A woman suffered life-threatening internal injuries after being shot when a sex game involving a gun went horrifically wrong.

David Jeffers, 47, has been jailed for 10 years after admitting he placed a loaded shotgun inside the woman’s vagina at the Britannia Hotel in Offerton, Stockport . The weapon went off accidentally, leaving her fighting for life.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had previously spoken of having a sexual fantasy involving having a gun placed inside her.

The pair met at about 8pm on January 30, and had both taken cocaine and drunk spirits.

They participated in consensual sex before taking part in the sex fantasy, which prosecutor Peter Wright QC described as ‘highly reckless and dangerous conduct’.

It was accepted that Jeffers did not deliberately pull the trigger.

The weapon was described in court as an ‘antique’ shotgun, the size of a small handgun, which fired .410 pellets and was usually used to kill vermin.

Mr Wright said Jeffers ‘panicked’ after the gun went off and tried to call 999, instead hitting nine and being put through to the hotel’s reception.

He anonymously told the hotel’s night manager that urgent medical assistance was needed.

But Jeffers fled the hotel, leaving the woman for dead.

He took the shotgun with him and said he dumped the weapon, which has never been recovered, in a bin somewhere in Stockport.

In the early hours he travelled to Piccadilly station and boarded an early morning train to Leeds, where he is from.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The manager went to the room and found the woman lying naked on the bed with her head on the pillow.

She told him: “I’ve been shot. I’m in agony. I’m going to die.”

Paramedics raced to the hotel after the manager called 999.

She was rushed to the Manchester Royal Infirmary where specialist doctors managed to save her life.

The shot had fired multiple gunshot pellets and caused significant injury to her bladder, vagina and uterus.

She was later able to tell doctors: “He tried to kill me. He shot me. The man was a bad man. He blew my insides out.”

Following the incident police combed the scene at the hotel room and found Jeffers’ DNA on a glass.

They also used CCTV to follow his movements to Piccadilly station and then back to Leeds.

Officers visited an address in Berkley Terrace, Leeds, belonging to a member of his family and found a phone which contained text messages from October last year discussing a weapon.

They then raided another address in Amberton Court, Leeds where Jeffers was arrested.

After the incident Jeffers had changed his appearance, by cutting his dreadlock hairstyle and changing his facial hair.

He said this was because he was preparing for being arrested and sent to custody.

At first Jeffers told police that he had found the gun in the toilets of the Wetherspoons pub at Leeds train station.

He claimed if he took it to the police he would not be believed about where he found it, so decided to give it to the woman he was planning to meet for her to hand in.

Jeffers later said he had found it in the woods in January.

Initially he also claimed that the woman had ‘unilaterally’ decided to place the weapon herself, a claim which was ‘inherently implausible’, Mr Wright said.

Defending, Oliver Saxby QC said that Jeffers regretted his actions, and felt embarrassed and shameful about the incident.

He was initially also charged with attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm, but the prosecution offered no evidence for those charges.

A basis of plea was submitted on Jeffers’ behalf in which he accepted possessing the gun and placing it in the woman’s vagina, but denied pulling the trigger. He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Judge John Potter, who identified the victim as ‘J’ in his sentencing remarks, said: “You Mr Jeffers had deliberately placed the firearm inside J’s vagina.

“It goes without saying that J was lucky to survive the horrendous injuries that were caused.

“You prioritised your own self centred needs above that of a seriously injured woman, lying helplessly naked on a bed, who for all you knew may have close to death.

“Your response thereafter was to try and save yourself from being caught.”

The judge said a victim impact statement, which was not read out in court, made for ‘difficult and harrowing reading’.

He said: “J’s injuries are life threatening, and having to cope with them will remain with her for the rest of her life.

“She has been released from hospital but her daily life is significantly compromised and it appears she faces the prospect of further surgery.”

Jeffers, of Berkley Terrace, Leeds, blew a kiss to members of his family sat in the public gallery as he was sent down.