Slaughterman shot after taunt, jury told

Keith Hubbard put a bolt gun to the head of Steven Smart while standing on the uneven bodies of sheep, which the pair had earlier slaughtered during the foot-and-mouth crisis, Preston Crown Court was told.

The jury of seven women and five men was told that 27-year old Mr Smart from St Leonards had taunted Hubbard after he had struggled to kill the last of thirty sheep because his gun had failed to go off.

One witness said he heard Mr Smart say to Hubbard: "Is that a gun or a hair dryer in your hand?"

The jury was told that Smart had said: "You missed that one, you bugger," referring to the sheep he was having difficulty slaughtering.

"I will shoot you, you bugger," Hubbard replied to Mr Smart, the court heard.

Hubbard then grabbed Mr Smart round the shoulders and brought the gun to the left side of his head, it was alleged.

Hubbard, 38, of Atherstone, Warwickshire, denies manslaughter while working at Great Orton airfield, near Carlisle, Cumbria, in April last year.

John Milford QC, prosecuting, said the death of Mr Smart was an accident but "an accident of the defendant's making which should never have taken place and it amounts to the offence of manslaughter."

Mr Milford told the jury how a witness saw Hubbard reload his bolt gun and put it to Mr Smart's head, who was stood either on or just outside one of the small pens.

The gun then went off and Hubbard was heard to cry: "I am going to go to jail."

The jury was told that the accused was left distraught.

When interviewed by police, Hubbard said he must have stumbled over the dead sheep and then the gun went off.

But he accepted there had been some banter about not shooting the last sheep correctly.

Mr Smart was taken to Cumberland Royal Infirmary in Carlisle before being transferred to intensive care at a hospital in Newcastle.

His skull was opened and damaged brain and debris removed. But just over 12 hours after he was shot he was pronounced dead.

The trial continues.