A man has been jailed for stabbing a neighbour and “hunting” and shooting a police officer with a crossbow.

Jason King stabbed Alistair Mahwuto with a small knife during an altercation resulting from a longstanding dispute, Aylesbury crown court heard on Wednesday.

Police were called to the scene in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where King shot repeatedly at officers with a crossbow out of his upstairs window before chasing them with the weapon and shooting an officer, the court was told.

The 55-year-old was later shot once by police in the stomach after refusing to put down the weapon.

King was jailed for nine years with a further three years to be spent on extended licence after previously pleading guilty to unlawful wounding, possessing an article with a blade or point and an offensive weapon, wounding with intent, and affray regarding the incident on 10 May 2024.

The sentencing hearing heard that on the day before the shooting, King had called the police to report that his windows had been broken by a neighbour.

Judge Cooper said King was motivated during the shooting in part by revenge and a sense of grievance towards his neighbours and police, who he believed had not handled the incident appropriately.

Cooper said: “I note that you purchased the crossbow, I don’t accept it was for recreational purposes. I consider that this was an attempt by you to arm yourself in the event of need.”

The judge said King’s actions, including chasing officers and continuing to shoot at them, were evidence of him “attempting to settle a score with police”. “It was as if you were trying to hunt down the officer, chasing him, aiming at his body,” he said.

The prosecutor Graham Smith said the officer had seen King “grinning” as he left his address before shooting him in the leg, resulting in a 2-3cm wound that was close to an artery.

King pointed the crossbow at other officers who confronted him and, given that he had already shot an officer, police decided to shoot him, the prosecutor said.

Smith said it was down to “great fortune” that the officer who was shot had not sustained worse injuries, and said King had appeared to be “hunting” and “stalking” the police.

In a statement read to court, Mahwuto, 63, who sustained a 2cm wound as a result of the stabbing, said the incident had “affected me more than I would have ever imagined” and a doctor had said his wound could have been fatal had it been a few centimetres higher.

The officer shot by King said the incident had “changed my outlook on life”, including knocking his confidence, and that he felt more “protective” of his colleagues. In a statement read by Smith, he said: “I don’t want anyone else to experience what I experienced, I hear jobs coming through on the radio and I don’t want my colleagues going out to them.”

In mitigation, Mark Kimsey said King accepted the incident was “very frightening” for those involved, and that he had been living with a “worsening mental condition”.

Kimsey said it had not been illegal to possess the crossbow. He added: “It appeared at the time the defendant believed he was able to speak to the neighbour’s dog, and speak in dog,” adding that King had thought he was in contact with an “Egyptian god”.

An investigation into the shooting of King by the police watchdog praised the “courage, professionalism and sound judgment” of officers involved in the incident.