Ashley Cole: Police rule out shooting charges

Ashley Cole was named the England squad's player of the year in 2010

Footballer Ashley Cole will not face any charges for shooting a man in an apparent accident at Chelsea's Surrey training ground, police said.

Tom Cowan, 21, was hit by a pellet from an airgun brought into the training ground by Cole on 20 February.

Surrey Police said on Friday they would not be taking any action against the Chelsea and England left back.

The force said it was "satisfied that no breaches of firearms legislation" had taken place.

Mr Cowan, who is on a one-year work placement at Chelsea, was hit in the side by a pellet at the club's training ground in Cobham.

'Words of advice'

Chelsea's medical staff reportedly treated the bleeding wound and Mr Cowan did not require hospital treatment.

In a statement Surrey Police said: "The incident took place within a building on private property and those involved were over the age of 18 and did not require any licence to purchase or hire an air weapon or ammunition.

"Surrey Police would like to stress that no allegations of any crime have been made in connection with this incident and that enquiries were commenced directly as a result of the matter being reported in the media."

It continued: "Officers have visited Chelsea Football Club's training facilities in Cobham and given the club strong words of advice regarding the incident and in relation to security procedures at the training ground to prevent similar incidents taking place in the future."