i’m somewhat familiar with shotshells. Although i never counted, I’ve probably reloaded in excess of 10,000 of them and shot at least as many in the past 40 years
A thug in Great Britain is not going to be hand loading his shotgun loads for sticking up the local pub. I think he stole the shotgun and the ammo. Hand loading in Great Britain is extremely restricted as well, if I recall correctly, as powder is treated as an explosive and regulated out the kazoo like handguns. The report says this was a "confrontation" which implies it occurred at close, face to face distance, not at any distance to allow the shot to spread. The shot column will be contained within the plastic wad for up to two feet or more from the muzzle.
![](http://cutlerscove.com/neat-stuff/shotshells/images/shotgun-shot-sequence-2a.jpg)