Patient found guilty of attempting to murder GP with a crossbow

A patient who shot his family GP with a crossbow, after blaming him for the death of his father, has been found guilty of attempted murder in a UK court.

Mark Waterfall burst into the consulting room of Dr Gary Griffith in Watford, just north of London, last July and shot him in the stomach, according to a news report on the BMJ website.

Shortly before firing the crossbow, Waterfall had announced, “You killed my father, and I am going to kill you,” Dr Griffiths told St Alban’s Crown Court.

The GP also reported that he was saved from more serious injury because, being a hot day, his shirt was in folds around his midriff, causing the crossbow to lose momentum.

It struck him in the stomach, and Dr Griffith described how he had to pull the bolt out of his stomach wall.

“Although the wound was gaping, it hadn’t gone into the colon. I had to pull the wound apart