Police have confirmed an officer was shot in the face before an armed stand-off in Sutton St James, Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire Police had initially denied the officer had been shot as the incident unfolded in the village's Chapelgate on Tuesday, January 31.

Now, they say an unarmed officer who first responded to calls of a man making threats with a firearm was shot while in an unmarked police car. 

He suffered minor injuries and was released from Boston Pilgrim Hospital the same day.

Police finally entered the house at around 10pm that night where they found the body of Barry Horspool, 61, in an upstairs bedroom. His cause of death has not yet been established.

Ch Supt Lee Freeman said: "We would like to thank all of the Sutton St James residents for their cooperation, patience and fantastic support during Tuesday's operation in the village. We recognise that this must have been a traumatic ordeal and that significant disruption was caused.

"Only limited information was released during the live incident for operational reasons but we are now in a position to provide a more detailed description of events.

"Officers were called to the scene in Chapelgate at around 11am after reports of a man with a firearm. Two unarmed officers attended in a marked police car.

"A shot was fired at their vehicle. One of the officers was injured, but the cause was initially unclear. In was later established in hospital that his facial wound had been caused by a bullet. He was treated and discharged on the same day.

"We are now providing as much support as we can to our officer and his family, along with the family of Mr Horspool.

"Once again we would like to thank residents for coping so admirably throughout a lengthy and extremely distressing period of time. We would urge anyone who wants to talk through their concerns to contact their local neighbourhood policing team."

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