A MUM has pledged never to rest until she finds the person who shot her son in the eye.

An airgun pellet left Ryan McPhee blinded in his right eye at the age of nine.

Heartbroken mother, Tisa Bolton, of Herald Way, Bicester, says the youngster is now having to suffer at the hands of school bullies because of his injuries.

But three years after the sickening woodland attack the culprit has still not been found.

Mrs Bolton is convinced that someone in Steeple Aston, where the incident happened, knows who was responsible.

And to mark her son's 13th birthday today she is renewing her own appeal for information.

Mrs Bolton said: "For Ryan's sake please come forward. He will never have the same chance in life as other kids."

The secretary, who works for Eddie Jordan's Jordan Grand Prix team at Silverstone, has applied for compensation to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

But her application was refused because in the view of the authority he had not been a victim of a crime.

Mrs Bolton has now written to the Prime MinisterTony Blair hoping he can intervene.

She has also lodged an appeal with CICA and is consulting solicitors to plan the next step forward.

"My son was an innocent victim. He is just about coping at the moment but he is already being bullied at school. I'm worried about what will happen when he gets a bit older." The pellet had not shown up on an initial scan but it was discovered when further tests were carried out.

Mrs Bolton said: "The pellet had gone straight through his eye, missing his brain by a few millimetres, and had slipped behind the eye bone."

Thames Valley Police said the case was still officially open and if new evidence came to light then further inquiries would be made.

He said: "The incident was reported to police on May 2, 1995. Inquiries were carried out but no-one has ever been prosecuted in connection with the incident. We do sympathise with Ryan McPhee and his family."

A CICA spokesman said if a victim was not satisfied with the decision of a further review then an appeal could be lodged with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel.

The independent body would then review the case in the presence of a qualified lawyer and witnesses could be called to give evidence.

"If additional information did come to light then it could be to the victim's advantage," he said.

Ryan lives with his step-father Clyde McPhee at Nizewell Head, Steeple Aston. His natural father Graham Gregory died in a car crash when he was four days old.

Mr Gregory had been driving to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to pick up his newborn son when he was involved in a head-on collision with another car near Lower Heyford.

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