An airgun sniper is terrorising a neighbourhood by taking pot shots at seagulls on rooftops.

In the latest incident in Hove, a bird was shot in the wing and fell into a garden where two children were playing.

The blood-spattered creature was taken to a vet but was so badly hurt it had to be put down.

It is the latest in a series of seagull shootings which began about a year ago.

Sarah Cole, of St Leonard's Avenue, Hove, first noticed the killings when a of a pair of gulls who had been nesting on her roof for more than seven years were shot dead.

Ms Cole named the pair George and Stevie after the Hollywood actors Steven and George Segal. She said: "I really liked them and enjoyed watching them."

But last year Stevie was shot and killed while sitting on her nest with her chicks. George fluttered around for a while near his offspring but did not sit on them. He disappeared.

The fire service was called out to rescue the chicks and they were hand-reared by Roger Musselle, from Woodingdean.

Last month another gull began to nest on Ms Cole's chimney. But the gunman took exception to it and shot it from the roof. The RSPCA and police were called.

In the latest attack, another seagull was shot from Ms Cole's roof on Tuesday last week. The injured bird fell off the roof and into a neighbour's garden.

Ms Cole said: "The children saw this poor bird covered in blood and it wasn't dead. They were very upset."

The injured bird was taken to Coastway Vets in Carlton Terrace, Portslade, where it was given emergency treatment but its wing was so badly injured by the pellet it had to be put down.

Veterinary nurse Jane Leaney said: "The seagull was only about three years old. It had a puncture wound to the left shoulder."

The painful pellet had shattered a bone which would have left the bird unable to fly.

Ms Leaney said: "I hand-reared a seagull last year and it still comes to see me. People are more of a pest than the seagulls. This is the coast so people should expect gulls here."

A vet removed the pellet and has kept the bird's body, the X-rays and the pellet as police hunt for the shooter.

Mr Musselle said he dealt with more than 40 calls about gulls being shot across the Sussex coast last year.

Anyone with any information should call 0845 6070999.