An Orpington mother has been left fearing for the safety of her children after a lead ball bearing was fired into her garden.



Rachel Lewington, 31, of Plantation Drive, heard a loud bang at 9.30pm on Tuesday (August 15).

Her husband also heard the noise and asked her if she had thrown something out of the window.

Mrs Lewington’s two Shiba Inu dogs went wild at the noise and went searching out in the garden.

Although Mrs Lewington was surprised by the noise she did not think too much of it.

But when her little boy found a large lead ball in the garden the next day she became concerned.

The ball bearing was lodged deep into her wooden decking.

The family had found a similar ball a month before in their garden and had thought it was an artefact.

However, after some research, Mrs Lewington discovered the ball bearing resembled ammunition that is used in powerful muzzle loading firearms.

Mrs Lewington now believes that the ball could have been fired from a muzzle loading rifle.

She approached a retired firearms specialist who told her that it could have been fired from a powerful ‘Black Widow’ slingshot or a gun.

He told her that if the ball bearing had hit somebody in the head it could have killed them, regardless of what it was fired from.

Mrs Lewington said that her neighbours have noisy dogs and so she wondered whether somebody was firing the balls in response to the noise. She also thinks that it could be teenagers playing around.

She has decided to report the incident to the police.

Mrs Lewington said: “It makes me feel incredibly unsafe with my kids in the garden. They are out of school for the holidays and we have a swimming pool so they want to be outside.

“Also, my dogs love it out there. I can’t just keep them inside. I’m concerned that whoever is firing the balls is unaware of the fact there are kids and animals.”

Mrs Lewington’s seven-year-old daughter is now so scared of the ball bearings that she won’t go swimming and will only play outside the front of the house.

“Jessica my daughter said, ‘mum I’m not going in the garden tomorrow,” because she is scared that the bullet was deliberately fired to cause nuisance or harm. She now refuses to go out in the garden.”

“Every time I hear a bang it’s a constant worry,” she added.

Black Widow catapults are legal to own in the UK but become illegal if they are used as a weapon.

Anybody who has any information on the incident should call the police on 101.