Two men are facing lengthy prison sentences after they were found guilty over a shooting at a mum's house.
Aaron Giles and Kevin Chapman were cleared of conspiracy to murder but convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life after a third man blasted a shotgun at the home in South Shields. Jurors were told Giles had fallen out with Ryan Carr and he was inside his girlfriend, Sharna Hadaway's home, along with her and her toddler when the shocking attack happened.
Two shots were fire at the front door by the unidentified, masked gunman, causing the whole house to shake. Now Giles and taxi driver Chapman have been warned they will receive "double figure" jail sentences.
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During the trial, Sharna said she was standing at her back door having a cigarette when someone opened fire at her house. She said she told Ryan someone had shouted for him and he went to the front door to look but couldn't see anyone. She said he came back in and they were just about to talk when the first gunshot happened, followed a couple of seconds later by a second bang.
She told police in a video-recorded interview played to jurors at Newcastle Crown Court: "The first one shook the full house. Before my brain could register the first one, it happened again. It was bang...bang."
Sharna added: "I thought someone had taken a sledgehammer to my door. I never in a million years thought it would be a gun. It was ridiculous, it shook the whole house. My son woke up and started screaming.
"Ryan ran outside and I ran upstairs. Then panic set in. I wanted my son out of the house." She said she rang her nana to ask her to collect her son.
She added that she then asked Ryan what had happened. "He said someone has just shot your door," she said. "Even he was in shock. I don't think he believed what was happening."
Sharna said "There were massive holes in the door, I could see inside the house and all the shatter on the floor from the door. Ryan had run down the street and he came back and said someone had shot the door.
"I didn't want to believe it, it just didn't register with me. I felt ill."
She said her young son would often play with the letter box but was upstairs in bed at the time of the shooting, which woke him up. Sharna said: "When I went upstairs he was screaming."
It was at 8.36pm on Wednesday September 21 last year when the shotgun was blasted through the door on Brownlow Road, South Shields. During the trial, Jamie Hill KC said: "That gunman has never been identified but it's the prosecution's case that he was acting under the instruction of Aaron Giles, who had an ongoing dispute with a man called Ryan Carr, who was staying at that address.
"It's our case that Kevin Chapman, who is or was a friend of Aaron Giles, had collected Aaron Giles then the gunman and took them to that address." He added: "We may never know exactly what the root cause of this dispute between Mr Giles and Mr Carr actually was but it's right to say that there had been a series of tit-for-tat incidents. These incidents involved damage to property and threats to various family members."
Before the shooting, CCTV footage shows Chapman's Skoda taxi driving past and a voice from inside the taxi, who prosecutors say was Giles trying to lure Mr Carr out, shouts 'Ryan. Ryan. Ebanks'.
The court heard the Skoda then came past again. Mr Hill said: "Giles can again be heard shouting his name. Then he shouts 'go on, go on'. This is obviously encouragement to the gunman, who moved behind another parked car while he was waiting again."
Mr Hill said: "Then the Skoda drives past again and Giles can be heard shouting 'go on, go on'. At that stage the gunman approaches the front of the house, pulls the shotgun out of his coat and discharges it twice through the front door.
"While this was going on, Ryan Carr, Sharna Hadaway and her young son were in the address. Mr Carr was initially in the back garden having a cigarette. They both heard the initial shouting of his name.
"Miss Hadaway then heard two very loud bangs which made the entire house shake. Thankfully no one was close to the front door." Mr Carr then ran out armed with an airgun and chased the shooter for a time before giving up.
Giles, 29, of Richardson Avenue, South Shields, and Chapman, 40, of Hawthorne Avenue, South Shields, will be sentenced on May 5 and were remanded in custody.
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