A CHISLEHURST couple are recovering from shock after an airgun pellet narrowly missed their baby's head.

The pellet smashed through the rear side window of John and Nicki Chamberlain's black Honda CRV as the vehicle drove at 60 miles per hour along the A20 Sidcup bypass, near Swanley.

Their 16-month-old son Henry was sitting next to the window and could have been killed if the pellet had hit the car a fraction of a second earlier.

Mr Chamberlain, 35, picked the toddler up from his nursery school, in New Eltham, and decided to go for a drive towards Kent.

As he drew level with a slip road near a BP petrol station, the pellet went through the window, smashed the glass, and dented a metal support inside the car.

"I heard an almighty bang in the car, like a big balloon bursting," he said.

"I came off at the next junction and realised the rear side window had shattered. There was a small bullet hole in the window."

The dent in the car was at the same level as the child's head.Police searched the vehicle but failed to find the pellet.

However, forensic evidence suggests the hole was made by an airgun pellet.

Mr Chamberlain, who is a director of a printing suppliers firm, said: "A fraction of a second earlier, the bullet could have hit my son and we could have been looking at a murder enquiry.

"It's not like shooting tin cans off a wall, it's people's lives at stake.

"Fortunately, this time it was just a piece of broken glass."

Mr Chamberlain's wife, Nicki, 29, said: "I was absolutely shocked when John told me what had happened. You feel compromised and ask yourself whether you can drive along the A20 without being hit."

A Bromley Police spokesman said: "This could have been very serious. If the pellet had gone any further, it could have hit the child's head."

If you know anything about the February 13 incident, call Sergeant Robert Percival at Orpington CID on 01689 891212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. Quote crime reference 3303879.