A subsidiary of arms manufacturer BAE Systems has been fined £80,000 after a worker’s leg bone was shattered while test firing a gun on a Northumberland range.

The employee, from Hexham, was seriously injured in April 2008 when a metal bolt weighing seven kilograms ejected from the back of the gun into his left leg.

He spent six weeks in hospital and his injured leg is now 2cm shorter than his right.