Published: Tuesday, 27th May, 2008 14:00
Gun victim: A brother's plea
By Annabel Williams
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Victim: Stuart Purser
DOCTORS hope a father-of-two blasted in the face with a shotgun at point blank range will be moved out of intensive care this week.
Stuart Purser was shot at 9.30pm on May 5 at the communal doorway to his home – a flat in Caversham’s Mead Close.
Bedside vigil: Ricky Purser speaks about his brother's shooting
And this week his brother Ricky pleaded for help to track down the gunman.
Stuart, 26, regained consciousness on May 17 and has undergone four operations with a fifth on the way.
Brother Ricky, 27, said: “Stuart is making good progress.
“After it happened, the first two weeks we were living on a knife edge. It was touch and go.
“It was very hard when he was sedated. He can’t speak to us yet but we can talk to him and he responds with a nod.
“The doctors haven’t given us any indication of how long he might be in
hospital.”
Recalling the moment he heard of the shooting, Ricky said: “I had just got into bed when my dad knocked on my door.
“He had to tell me three times before it sank in. We went straight to the hospital.”
Stuart lives with his girlfriend and her 10-year-old son in Mead Close, and has a son of eight and a six-year-old daughter by an ex-partner.
Ricky said: “Stuart’s girlfriend has been a rock through this.
“It is very difficult to see him in hospital, seeing my little brother like that, someone you’ve grown up with and looked after.
“As a family we are supporting each other.
“The police have been fantastic, they have kept us up to date and done everything we have needed them to do.
“It helps us to know they are doing all they can to bring whoever to justice.
“That’s why we want anyone who knows anything, however insignificant they think it might be, to get in touch.
“We will sleep a lot better knowing this person has been locked up.”
Ricky doesn’t know why anyone would want to kill his brother and said: “People have said there was an argument or fight before he was shot, but that’s not the case.”
Detective Chief Inspector Mick Saunders, from Reading’s major crime unit, said 25 officers are on the case full-time, and he himself had put in 260 hours.
DCI Saunders said: “Stuart has not been able to speak to us or give us a statement because of his injuries and our main concern is his health.
“I am investigating a number of possible motives, it is not clear why Stuart was shot.
“But this was a targeted shooting with an intended victim, Caversham and Reading are very safe places and this is something everyone needs to be assured of.
“Ricky was talking about his brother, saying he was a good father and talking about him in the past tense, that is the extent to which they were expecting him to die, the fact that he hasn’t is testimony to his own good health.”
DCI Saunders wants to hear from anyone who saw a dark motorcycle or silver car in Mead Close and the lower Caversham area on the day of the shooting.
Contact DCI Saunders on 08458 505 505.
*A 28-year-old Tilehurst man arrested on May 13 in connection with the shooting was bailed to report to Maidenhead police station on June 5.
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