Dad's living room shooting 'happened so fast'

Barry Dawson was killed at his home in Stanley, County Durham, in April

A man who saw his father fatally shot in his living room said it all happened so fast but he believed it was an accident, jurors have heard.

Barry Dawson, 60, was struck in the chest when a handgun was fired through his window in Stanley, County Durham, in April, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Sean Reay, 30, who is accused of being the shooter, and four other men deny murder.

In a police interview read to jurors, Mr Dawson's son Shane, 23, said he saw his dad spin round and spurt blood after being shot.

Mr Dawson was shot in his living room on Elm Street in South Moor at about 17:15 BST on 5 April.

A CCTV video seen by the jury showed one man smashing the living room window with a brick before another stepped forward and fired a single shot into the room.

Prosecutor Francis FitzGibbon KC said it was not known if Mr Dawson was the intended target, but the shooter and those that encouraged or assisted him intended for someone to be seriously injured or killed.

Gun 'glistened'

In a police interview read to jurors and recorded the day after the shooting, Shane Dawson said the window "went out" and he shouted at his father to get upstairs.

He initially said he saw shadows pass the window and then made eye contact with the shooter in the street outside, who fired into the room.

Shane Dawson said it "just happened that fast" and he did not have time to tell his father there was a gun, which he said was "shiny", "glistened" and "looked brand new".

"I watched him raise the gun [and] pull the trigger," Mr Dawson said, adding he then watched as his father span round as the bullet struck him, with blood coming from his front and back.

He said he did not think the shooter was aiming at his father as the gunman was looking Shane Dawson "directly in the eyes".

"If he wanted to shoot me he could have shot me," Mr Dawson said, adding he thought the gun was aimed at him before the gunman moved it to one side and fired.

'Straight through the heart'

In a second interview four months later, Mr Dawson said he believed the shooting had been an "accident" and the gunman would not have been able to see his father in the living room.

When asked if it was his "genuine belief" the shooting was an accident, he replied: "100%, he did not mean to kill anyone."

Mr Dawson denied being threatened into saying that.

Jurors also heard details of the 999 call made in the aftermath in which a man told the operator Mr Dawson had been shot "straight through the heart".

Several people were performing CPR on him before police and paramedics arrived, but Mr Dawson was declared dead at the scene at 18:14, the court heard.

The court also heard an account of a taxi driver who took three men, said to be Sean Reay, Thomas Sterling and Kelvin Lawson, from outside a pizza shop in Annfield Plain to the northbound platform at Durham rail station shortly before 20:00 on the day of the shooting.

Jurors heard the taxi was booked in a call from Mr Lawson's phone and when the driver asked the men where they were travelling to, two said Scotland and one said Scarborough.

The driver said he had heard about the shooting and told his passengers he had noticed a lot of police about, the court heard.

The "only response" he got from the men was "ah right yeah", the driver said, adding: "It was like they didn't want to talk about it."

The court has heard the three men went to Edinburgh, with Mr Reay eventually arrested in Northern Ireland six days after the shooting.

The defendants, all of whom are from Annfield Plain near Stanley and deny murder, are:

• Sean Reay, 30, of Clavering Place

• Keith Dorward, 48, of no fixed abode

• Kevin Dorward, 38, of New Durham Road

• Thomas Lee Sterling, 22, of The Avenue

• Kelvin Lawson, 37, of Frosterley Gardens

The trial continues.