Former town man hurt in French gun horror

6:10pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008

A FORMER Wallingford man is recovering after being shot when real bullets were used instead of blanks at a French military demonstration.

Mark Hoskins was injured while he was watching a display by French paratroopers in Carcassonne, in southern France, on Sunday.

'Then the firing started — I just could not believe what was unfolding before my eyes'

Mark Hoskins

The 45-year-old, who had his eight-year-old son, Edward, on his shoulders at the time, was left with shrapnel embedded in his leg.

He said: "It did not hurt at first, but then I looked down and saw the blood.

"My other 13-year-old son, Thomas, was with friends, and my wife, Veronica, had thrown herself flat. We just did not know what was really happening.

"It was havoc. Once the firing stopped there was chaos as no one really knew what had taken place."

The former AFC Wallingford footballer was rushed to hospital and, although subsequently released, will have to return to have the shrapnel removed.

Mr Hoskins, who now lives in France and has his own plumbing and heating business there, said: "We were at the display watching the paras show how they dealt with a hostage situation.

"They 'rescued' the hostage and then the firing started. I just could not believe what was unfolding before my eyes. The real shock comes afterwards when you realise what could have happened.

"The military doctors were the first to react, bringing on their equipment with impressive speed to make a field hospital in the parade ground. Civilian emergency services arrived quickly as part of a major incident response."

The French army's chief of staff, General Bruno Cuche, has resigned following the incident, which left 17 people injured.

Four people, including a child, were seriously injured in the incident, but they are now said to be out of danger.

Mr Hoskins and his wife are set to be interviewed by the French police and by the army to find out exactly what happened.

He added: "There were five helicopters flying the injured to hospitals in Perpignan, Narbonne, Toulouse and Carcassonne, plus 11 ambulances attended. It is not until afterwards that you appreciate the full horror and what might have been."

Mr Hoskins was born and brought up in Wallingford, going to St John's School and Wallingford School and working in the town as a plumbing and heating engineer before moving to France just under five years ago.

He and his wife have recently moved out of their previous home in Montreal, in the Aude region of Languedoc, to a larger house in a dilapidated building just outside the town.

Mr Hoskins was well known as a footballer with Wallingford Town and Wallingford United and then, after the clubs merged, with AFC Wallingford. He also played cricket for Wallingford and was a singer with the Giffords concert party which raises money for charity.

Col Benoit Royal, head of the French army's information service, said: "It was 99.9 per cent likely to be an unintentional fault."

The soldier who fired the bullets was detained. He was said by Defence Minister Herve Morin to be very experienced, to have had a perfect record and to have participated in several operations.

Mr Morin said: "There is nothing that would make one think he had behavioural or psychological problems."