Medical experts are being called in to examine a 10-year-old boy with an airgun pellet lodged in the base of his skull.

The boy was shot in the back of the neck by a gang of youths in Liverpool.

Despite surgery at Alder Hey children's hospital, the pellet remains lodged near the boy's spine.

Specialist advice is being sought before the boy undergoes a further operation.

Merseyside police say a group of youths shot the boy in Croxteth park in Liverpool.

Police say the boy was fishing with his friend in the park on Saturday.

Stole equipment

Just before 1600 BST on Saturday a group of youths aged about 16 approached the two boys.

Officers say the group stole the boys' fishing rods, and as they ran off, one youth turned and shot at the boys, hitting one of them in the back of the neck with a pellet.

It is the second such incident in Merseyside this month.

At the beginning of September a six-year-old girl was hit in the eye with a ball bearing from a similar weapon discharged by a gang of youths in the Huyton area of Merseyside.

She is still recovering from surgery, but doctors have saved her sight.