A POLICEWOMAN from Ormskirk has described the "excruciating pain" she felt after being gunned down during a robbery.
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PC Katie Johnson was working as a dog handler when she was shot when responding to the incident on New Year's Eve 2007.

Katie, 29, told Preston Crown Court about the moment she was faced with the gunman.

After receiving the call that there were masked men inside the Hospital Inn at Bamber Bridge near Preston, Katie made the 10-minute journey to the pub and asked for a police cordon to be set up around the scene.

As she approached the front of the pub she heard the sound of the door rattling and a man in a balaclava appeared.

"He looked directly at me. He shouted to me ‘get to the ground’, as I shouted for him to stay where he was. He produced a firearm and shot me," she said.

Katie described the man as big, broad and of a very large build.

She told the court that the man held his weapon at shoulder height and "pointed it straight at me. I had no warning whatsoever," she said.

"I heard a loud bang. I felt excruciating pain in my left thigh. I screamed very loudly and was forced to bend over."

Katie described how her dog Chaos began barking and screeching and failed to hold the man under her instruction.

The man who shot her then went back into the pub.

Wayne McDonald, 47, of Crossway, Didsbury in South Manchester and David Tyrell, 39, of Lions Drive, Swinton deny attempting to murder the policewoman and also wounding with intent to resist arrest.

Rudolf Mancini, 55, of Division Lane, Great Marton, Blackpool, Peter Plaskowski, 28, of Dean Street, Bamber Bridge and McDonald all deny robbery.

THE LIVERPOOL ECHO