Slaughtermen culling sheep during the foot-and-mouth crisis left loaded bolt guns unattended, a court heard today.

The captive bolt guns, used to shoot animals dead, were left loaded and cocked on walls surrounding pens of sheep, Preston Crown Court was told.

The mass slaughter operation at Great Orton Airfield near Carlisle, Cumbria, was poorly organised with some workers unable to stay more than a day due to the stress of the workload, it was alleged.

Slaughterman Keith Hubbard, 38, of Atherstone, Warwickshire, is accused of killing colleague Steven Smart with one of the captive bolt guns at the slaughter centre. He denies manslaughter.

It has been alleged that Hubbard was being taunted about failing to kill a ewe in April last year and began "mucking around" with Mr Smart by putting the gun to his head.

The gun went off and Mr Smart, 27, of St Leonards, Hastings, suffered an injury to the left-hand side of his brain. He died 12 hours later in hospital.

Anthony Bagworth, who was working as a slaughterman at Great Orton, said after Mr Smart was shot he noticed two guns nearby.

He said: "We had a complaint previously that people were leaving their guns on the wall loaded and I happened to know that one of them was cocked.

"It was loaded with a live blank to fire the bolt. It could have gone off if someone had reached up to pull the trigger."

A captive bolt fires a 3in steel bolt through the skull and into the brain of the animal before retracting back into the device. A cartridge is used to fire the bolt.

Mr Bagworth told the court: "Slaughtermen were putting the guns on the top of sandbags."

He said he once picked up a gun which had been accidentally knocked off a sandbag and found it was loaded.

Mr Bagworth said the slaughter operation was not run very well, adding: "It wasn't completely chaotic but it could have been a bit better organised."

He told the court that there was also a shortage of vets at the site.

The jury had earlier heard evidence from Home Office pathologist Dr Peter Cooper.

Dr Cooper said it was likely a gun had been placed to Mr Smart's head.

But Dr Cooper said he could not rule out Hubbard's version of the incident, in which he claims he stumbled over the bodies of dead sheep and the gun went off accidentally.