Pop Musician Shot in Eye from Passing Car

A pop musician narrowly escaped being blinded in one eye after being hit by an air-gun pellet in a drive-by shooting in the middle of Oxford.

Mr Simon Williams, from Harwell, near Didcot, a vocalist and guitarist with the Oxford-based band the Samurai Seven, was shot from a passing car on February 14, as he left a city-centre pub.

The shooting happened near the Bodleian Library, after he had been celebrating Valentine�s Day with his girlfriend, Miss Sue Nolty.

He believes his sight could have been saved because he was wearing soft contact lenses which absorbed some of the impact.

Mr Williams, 25, said: �It seemed to be a completely arbitrary thing. I did not feel singled out by it.

�Things were really beginning to happen for the Samurai Seven so it�s come at a bad time. I�m under strict instructions not to move around so we�ve had to cancel gigs.�

However, he says it is miraculous that he escaped as lightly as he did.

He said: �When it happened I was completely blind. Now I can sort of see things. I�m reasonably confident I will be able to make a full recovery.

�It hit me in the pupil but of it had punctured my eye ball it would have caused serious damage.�

The incident came as the band was poised for national attention.

The Samurai Seven were to appear in Channel Four�s Sound of the Suburbs documentary series, which starts on Saturday. Now they have been forced to cancel concerts and TV appearances.