DETECTIVES are hunting a sniper who fired at pupils with an air rifle as they played on a climbing frame in a primary school playground.
Five children and three members of staff have been injured in two separate attacks at Netley School in William Road, Regent’s Park.
Puzzled police have been unable to release any details of potential suspects but believe the marksman may have shot from flats overlooking the play area.
Officers said that the ammunition used in the rapid-fire attacks were pellets blasted from a long-range air gun.
Devastated headteacher Ivor Thomas has appealed for police to catch the culprit as soon as possible.
He said: “I’m shocked. We acted as quickly as possible to make the children safe but it all happened very quickly. We are helping the police as much as possible. I hope the perpetrator is caught before we return (from the school’s summer holiday) in September.”
The playground gun drama unfolded at lunch-time last Wednesday when four chil-dren were hit in quick succession. Two seven year-old girls and an eight-year-old boy sustained bruising. Another eight-year-old boy ran into the school bleeding after being cut in the gunfire.

BAR bosses could see their pubs run dry unless they meet a nine-day deadline to sort out new licences – even if they do not want to apply for later drinking hours.
Around 70 per cent of Camden’s pubs and clubs are facing the ultimate disaster of being stripped of the right to sell booze – simply because landlords have not filled out new licensing forms.
The rigid requirement is part of the government’s new licensing rules.
Pub bosses have had since February to convert to the new system but so far only around 520 of the borough’s 1,700 venues have responded.