A MAN’S DNA was found on a broken shotgun hidden in grass after he shot at a chalet home, caravan and vehicle, a court heard.

Thomas Connors, 23, of Merlin Crescent, Edgware, and Thomas Saunders, 29, of Arterial Road, Rayleigh are standing trial over a shooting in Hovefields Avenue, Wickford.

Connors is charged with assisting in commission of an indictable offence, assisting an offender and dangerous driving.

Thomas is charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a firearm with intend to cause fear or violence and destroy and damage property.

The jury previously heard how the prosecution say Connors drove Thomas to Hovefields Avenue, Wickford on September 9 last year and that Saunders fired a shot gun at a chalet home, caravan and vehicle.

Yesterday the jury at Basildon Crown Court heard from a crime scene investigating officer and an DNA expert and was told Saunders’ DNA was found on the gun.

One witness, the crime scene investigating officer, told the court she was called to Orchard Place, Wickford after the gun was found.

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She said: “I arrived and there were officers on guard and firearm officers there too. They showed me where the gun was. It was in two black bin bags and out of one bag I could see the handle next to the trigger. I took swabs from five different areas of the gun which was broken and in two pieces in the two bags. There were no shells in the chamber of the gun.”

A forensic scientist told the court a large amount of Saunders’ DNA was found on the gun.

She explained her team examined the swabs taken by the crime scene investigating officer.

She told the jury: “Approximately 60 per cent of the DNA found on the gun was from Thomas Saunders, a total of 34 cells, and 56 cells were recovered. I am not sure of the source of the DNA, how long it was there for and how it was distributed onto the gun.

“Examinations showed us the DNA was either from Thomas Saunders and two others or three other people, but it’s a 100 billions times more likely that it was Thomas Saunders and two others.”

The trail continues.