CITY auctioneer Andrew Grant has been ordered to pay more than £23,000 in fines and costs after a customer lost part of a finger in an horrific shooting accident.

Jazz violinist Jonathan Phipps was examining a starting pistol inside Grant's fine arts showroom when the gun accidentally went off.

A gas flame discharge badly injured the victim's middle finger on his left hand and the tip had to be amputated. Mr Phipps can no longer play professionally.

The weapon should only have been viewed under strict supervision, said Barry Berlin, prosecuting.

He pointed out that, although Grant had 90 employees in three businesses, not one had been given adequate training in health and safety.

Grant, aged 58, of Bransford Manor, Bransford, near Worcester, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Recorder Nigel Seed QC said the case had exposed "serious failings" in safety although he did not regard the defendant as solely responsible. There had been "a lack of care" by others.

He fined Grant £5,000 and ordered him to pay £18,443 prosecution costs.

The recorder said that although he had sympathy with Mr Phipps, it had been "an amazingly foolish thing to do" to handle the gun.

After the sentence, Mr Phipps, 52, of Honeybrook Terrace, Franche, Kidderminster, shouted out from the public gallery of Worcester Crown Court that he had not been negligent in holding the pistol and that the discharge had come from the side, not the barrel.

The accident happened on December 14, 2001, at a pre-auction review at Grant's showroom in Cherry Orchard, Worcester.

Mr Berlin said the city council's environmental health department knew nothing about the accident until an article appeared in the Evening News.

Adrian Mackwell, the fine arts manager at the time - he has now left the firm - had a shotgun licence, but no training in safety, added Mr Berlin.

Mr Mackwell told investigators he had fired the pistol two or three times to see if it worked but did not know there was a cartridge left in the breach.

But Graham Cliff, defending, said another employee claimed the gun was deliberately left loaded as a practical joke to frighten a member of staff. However, the prosecution did not accept this explanation.

Mr Cliff said Grant accepted the buck stopped with him. He had never before been prosecuted in 30 years of business and had taken steps to ensure adequate safety measures were now in place.

The defendant wished to apologise to Mr Phipps but said he had relied on Mr Mackwell, a trusted employee for seven years.

The recorder added that he was not ordering compensation and said it was up to the civil courts to resolve liability.

After the case, Mr Grant's solicitor, Richard Morgan, said: "Mr Grant is extremely sorry that Mr Phipps sustained this injury as a result of this isolated lapse in procedure."