'Police did not investigate bullet hitting my home'

A homeowner has accused the police of failing to investigate after his house was struck by a rifle bullet.

Adam McGill said a live rifle round was fired at his home in Bidford-on-Avon, South Warwickshire, in August 2025, shattering a pane of glass in a rear window.

He said no officer attended the scene and the case was only reopened after he carried out his own investigation. "Nobody had come to the house, nobody had inspected the window, nobody had looked at where the round might have been coming from," he said.

Warwickshire Police confirmed to the BBC that no officer visited the property. The force said an investigation into McGill's complaint found its response was appropriate.

McGill, a 35-year-old businessman, said the case was initially closed within an hour of him filing the report.

"I got an email effectively telling me that the case had been closed. I genuinely couldn't believe what I was reading, to be honest with you."

The incident took place in August 2025, while McGill was having building work carried out on his home.

He was working away at the time and said he was woken by a flurry of messages from contractors.

"My immediate thought was that someone had tried to break in, but as the photographs kept coming through, you could actually see a projectile sitting in the cavity of the double-glazed window," he said.

Warwickshire Police was called, and according to McGill, an hour after the first report, he got the email telling him the investigation had been closed.

He said the decision to close the case was "almost impossible to comprehend".

In a copy of the complaint investigation seen by the BBC, Warwickshire Police found that when the original investigation was carried out, there was no suspect identified, no witnesses and no CCTV, the investigation was "reasonable and proportionate".

McGill carried out his own investigation. He found out who owned the land behind his house, traced the bullet to the land, identified who had been shooting there at the time, and obtained contact details for the person believed to have fired the shot.

He passed the details to a new investigating officer, who identified the shooter who subsequently admitted the offence.

Warwickshire Police confirmed that a Community Resolution Order (CRO) has been put in place, meaning the suspect is not allowed to shoot on the land near McGill's house and has to pay £500 to cover the cost of replacing the broken window.

But McGill said he was still unhappy with the force's handling of the case.

"How can a force say on the one hand we reopened the case as a result of your complaint, we found this guy, we've got an admission, we've taken his firearms licence off him, and on the other hand tell me that they were absolutely right not to investigate it in the first place?

"Those positions just don't go together."

McGill made a formal complaint to the force's Professional Standards team about the initial response to the bullet hitting his house in August 2025.

That complaint was concluded in October 2026. The team found that the service provided was "acceptable".

However, McGill said when he tells people about what happened and the police's decision not to send an officer to investigate, they are astounded.

"I think the thing that shocks everybody is not just that nobody came at all; it's that the incident was effectively dismissed before anyone had even attempted to investigate it.

"And then when you raise that with the force, having investigated it yourself, they stand by; they stand by that response. It's just to me it seems like a total contradiction, and it's pretty unforgivable."

In a statement to the BBC, Warwickshire Police said: "We investigated a report of criminal damage on 4 August 2025, where a stray pellet damaged the window of the victim at a property in Bidford-upon-Avon.

"The pellet damaged the outer pane of the ground-floor window and was trapped between the two panes of glass.

"The investigation was initially closed on 7 August because of a lack of evidence and evidential leads.

"It was reopened after new evidence, including the identity of a suspect, were brought to light by the victim through a submitted complaint. These were not part of the initial report.

"A Community Resolution was put together, requiring the suspect to not shoot on lands behind the victim's property and to pay £500 for the costs of the window. The Community Resolution has been agreed by both victim and suspect, and is awaiting signing by the victim."

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