A man shot himself in the spine as he struggled to cope with back pain – only to be jailed for three years for possessing a gun.

Paul Davis spent Christmas in London‘s Belmarsh prison after trying to paralyse himself due to the agony caused by a degenerative disc disorder.

The 44-year-old was found on his sofa in April after a second attempt to shoot himself failed as the weapon jammed.

‘The reasons for him shooting himself were extremely unusual and tragic,’ Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told London’s Appeal Court.

 Paul Davis spent Christmas in London’s Belmarsh prison (pictured) after trying to paralyse himself due to the agony caused by a degenerative disc disorder

Racked with pain due to his degenerative disc disorder, ‘he sought to paralyse himself by shooting himself in the lower back.’

Tragically, however, his condition was now even worse due to his gunshot wound, the court heard.

Davis was on morphine and other heavy pain killers, but ‘on the day in question decided that he could stand the pain no longer’.

‘Remarkably, he decided to shoot himself in the spine to paralyze himself and try to stop that pain,’ said the judge.

‘He fetched the gun, shot himself in the lower back, and then tried to reload for a second shot but the gun jammed.

‘But the injury appears only to have caused more nerve damage and to have exacerbated his condition.’

Davis, of Sidcup, Kent, had acquired the prohibited handgun 20 years earlier – when contemplating suicide following his mum’s death.

The judge who sentenced Davis had reduced the normally automatic five-year term for firearms offences due to his ‘exceptional circumstances’.

But his case reached the Appeal Court as Davis’ barrister, Beth O’Riley, urged the judges to ‘show mercy’ and scrap his sentence.

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, sitting with Lord Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Warby, noted that Davis was ‘in despair’ at the time.

And he concluded: ‘This is a wholly exceptional and tragic case which calls for mercy.’

The judges quashed the three-year term, substituting a two-year suspended sentence which ensures Davis’s immediate release.

He watched the court session via live video link from jail – walking to his chair using a stick.