Thames Valley Police has been fined £40,000 after a firearms instructor shot a colleague during a training day.

Pc Dave Micklethwaite, 52, shot call centre operator Keith Tilbury, 51, in the torso after mistakenly loading a Magnum .44 revolver with a live round which was stored in an old Quality Street tin at a firearms awareness course in Kidlington in May 2007.

A judge branded the practice a “disaster waiting to happen”.

He was fined £8,000 by Southwark Crown Court today and ordered to pay £8,000 costs after admitting breaching health and safety rules.

Thames Valley Police was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs.