Mum heard two ‘massive bangs’ when a gunman fired at her house while her child was sleeping

A mum heard two "massive bangs" at her front door when a gunman fired shots at her house as her young child slept upstairs, a court heard.
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Aaron Giles and the woman's partner, Ryan Carr, had been locked in a dispute prior to the incident, although it remains unclear what the conflict was about, jurors have been told.Newcastle Crown Court heard Giles took the row "to another level" when he sent a gunman to the home, where Mr Carr was staying with his girlfriend Sharna Hadaway and her child, at Brownlow Road, South Shields, South Tyneside, and two shots were fired at the front door.Prosecutor Jamie Hill KC told the court Giles had attempted to lure Mr Carr out of the house in the moments before the unidentified person opened fire but nobody ended up hurt.Giles and the unknown gunman had been taken to the scene by taxi driver Kevin Chapman, who was in on the deadly plan last September, the court heard.Giles, 29, of Richardson Ave, South Shields and Chapman, 40, of Hawthorne Ave, South Shields, both deny conspiracy to murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.Giles has admitted an offence of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, which Chapman denies.Jurors heard evidence from Ms Hadaway today via her pre-recorded interview with police one day after the incident.The court heard that her son was upstairs in bed in the two-bedroom council house at around 8:30pm when she heard a voice outside shout 'Ryan.'She said: "Me and my boyfriend were in the kitchen and (my son) was upstairs in the bedroom.

"Me and Ryan were talking in the kitchen and I was having a tab at the back door and I heard 'Ryan'.

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"I went out in the back garden and had a look and couldn't see anything and I went back in the house."I said to Ryan there is shouting outside. He went to the front door and had a look and no one was there."About five to ten minutes later there was two massive bangs to my door and my door was rattling."

Newcastle Crown Court. Newcastle Crown Court.
Newcastle Crown Court.
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The woman said she immediately ran upstairs to pick up her child before ringing her nanna who came to collect them.

Jurors heard that when she then went to inspect the damage of the door, she could see lots of 'tiny' and 'massive' black holes with shatter on the floor. The police were called shortly afterwards.

She added: "By then Ryan had ran down the street. He came back and said someone has just shot your door.

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"I didn't want to believe it. It's South Shields, who is going to have a gun to shoot my door? I'm technically a single mam."

The gunman is then said to have fled on foot while Giles and Chapman left in the taxi.

Giving evidence, Ms Hadaway was later asked if she was familiar with a man called 'Chucky', which is a nickname for Giles, to which she replied yes.

She added that she was aware there had been an "issue" and an "argument" between Mr Carr and 'Chucky' but she didn't think too much of it.The trial continues.

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