Prince Andrew escapes death from bodyguard's shot

The Scotsman ^ | Sun 11 May 2003 | TOM CURTIS

[IoCaster]

Sun 11 May 2003

Prince Andrew escapes death from bodyguard's shot

TOM CURTIS

PRINCE Andrew narrowly escaped being killed when his personal detective accidently fired his gun, it was revealed last night.

The bullet narrowly missed the prince, passing through a desk and a wall before becoming embedded in a corridor 10ft from where the Duke of York was standing.

The experienced officer reported to be responsible, Detective Sergeant Jeff Fuller, is said to have been relegated to unarmed duties pending an inquiry by Scotland Yard.

It is the third time there has been a firearms accident involving royal protection officers in the past three years.

The latest accident is said to have happened while Fuller was unloading his gun at the prince's Berkshire mansion, Sunninghill Park.

Last night a source said: "As soon as the shot was fired the prince dived for cover. Obviously at that point he had no idea what was happening. The bullet went through a desk, through a wall and into the wall of the corridor. Andrew was about 10ft from where it ended up."

Details of the incident, which happened a fortnight ago, have only just emerged. Scotland Yard issued a statement last night saying: "On April 25 a Metropolitan Police officer accidentally discharged a firearm while unloading it.

"No one was injured. As is routine, the officer has been taken off firearms duties pending the outcome of an inquiry."

Buckingham Palace said the accident was "a police matter".

Fuller, 48, has been Andrew's personal bodyguard for 12 years and previously worked with the Queen and Princess Anne. Protection officers are armed with Austrian-made Glock semi-automatic pistols, which fire steel-jacketed rounds at 1,350ft per second.

Regulations are understood to state that unless absolutely necessary, armed officers should not load, unload or clean their weapons inside royal households.

That is supposed to be carried out in a designated armoury.

Andrew, 43, has lived alone at Sunninghill Park since his divorce in 1996, although daughters Beatrice, 14, and Eugenie, 12, visit regularly along with his ex-wife, the Duchess of York.

In June 2000, Royal Train bodyguard PC Michael Slade accidentally fired a shot in the dining coach as he took his gun from his holster, and another as he tried to make the gun safe.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were sleeping nearby.

In 2001, PC Michael Aldridge fired a shot from his Glock pistol as he checked it in at the end of his shift at Buckingham Palace just after the Queen had left for Windsor. No one was injured.

[billorites]

Remarkably incontinent.

Clintonian, almost.

[cynicom]

I thought guns were illegal in Britain???

[isthisnickcool]

Lottery winner almost killed?

[tet68]

Steel jacketed?
FMJ probably.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Ooops. There goes the Prince.

[Larry Lucido]

Why does Andrew need armed guards? No one else had guns, so he should be perfectly safe.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Seems like a lot of accidental discharges, although I am not suggesting that they are suspicious. I wonder how often the Secret Service accidently fires a weapon, in the vicinity of the President, or his residence?

[annyokie]

Ahem! Prince Wills pix?

[Cultural Jihad]

Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and daughters Eugenie and Beatrice

[DD938]

That's Jeff Fuller as in "Fuller Brush Man"???

[annyokie]

Thanks! I don't know why I was thinking Prince William. Brain glitch, I guess.

[willyboyishere]

"Accidental"??? This is probably the same guy who Andrew, in a moment of giddy fun about five years ago, turned a high-powered water hose on, then laughed when the guy was drenched and knocked on his ass.

[tubebender]

With friends like this who needs enemies...

[Falcon4.0]

"10ft from where the Duke of York was standing."

I've had 30-06 rounds zing by my head closer than that.

But I guess it never made the paper because I'm not a "Duke".

[gcruse]

Well, here's your problem. They need to change the name to princeguard. A body guard needs a body to guard.

[Paul Atreides]

All this time I thought that the 80s soap, Dynasty, was way over the top. I didn't take the Royal Family into account.

[marktwain]

Amazing as it sounds, I suspect that these guards need more training with their weapons. Glocks are handled just like double action revolvers. Keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot. It is almost impossible to fire a Glock if you keep your finger off of the trigger.

I bet the guard had his finger inside the trigger guard.

[tlb]

It's a shame Princess Diana isn't still in the Palace. The staff never prematurely discharged when she was on top of things.

[newwahoo]

From what I've learned since I joined the NYPD, Glocks need to have the trigger pulled as part of the breakdown process for cleaning. I still remember all the instructors covering their ears when the recruit officers that had chosen the Glock 19 as their service weapon reached that part of the process!