Solicitor shooting: Man in court

A man is due to appear in court charged with attempted murder after a solicitor was blasted in the face with a sawn-off shotgun.

James Ward, 58, was left fighting for his life when he was shot at the offices of Morris, Goddard and Ward in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Monday afternoon.

Wiltshire Police charged Michael Chudley, 62, from the nearby village of Rowde, with the attempted murder of Mr Ward, threats to kill, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and carrying a firearm with criminal intent.

He remains in police custody and will appear at Salisbury Magistrates Court.

Mr Ward, the principal solicitor of the firm in St John's Street, was treated by an off-duty paramedic and airlifted by the Great Western Air Ambulance to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

The lawyer, from Westbury, Wilts, suffered life-threatening head injuries and is in a very serious condition in hospital with his family at his bedside.