A teenager accused of attempting to murder a friend was holding the muzzle of a shotgun less than five feet away from him when he blasted him in the face, a court has heard.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday (June 3) firearms expert Mark Robinson said the muzzle of the 12 bore double barrelled shotgun used in the attack would have been more than 0.75m from the boy’s face but less than 1.5m (five feet) when it was fired.

He explained that he had come to his conclusions after carrying out a number of test shots from different distances and comparing them the victim’s injury to his cheek and the pellet pattern around it.

He said that when the over and under gun was seized by police from a car which had been used by the teenager on the day of the shooting, a spent cartridge was found in the top barrel and a live cartridge in the lower barrel.

The safety catch on the Beretta was on when it was recovered from the car and two boxes of cartridges were also found in the vehicle, said Mr Robinson.

He accepted it was possible for a gun to be discharged unintentionally and gave as an example a farmer losing his footing in a field and the trigger being pulled while the safety catch was off.

Before the court is a16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, who has denied attempted murder, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence against a man who witnessed the incident.

It has been alleged that the victim was deliberately shot as he was walking to Kesgrave High School where he was a pupil.

The prosecution has claimed the defendant set out to kill the boy after planning the attack for a year.

A friend later told police that the teenager had told him what he was planning but he had wrongly assumed he was joking.

The court has heard that on September 7 last year the defendant took his grandfather’s double barrelled shotgun and drove to Friends Walk in Grange Farm Kesgrave in his father’s car where he allegedly lay in wait for more than an hour before shooting the victim.

The victim had a “significant“ injury to the side of his face and suffered a stroke after being taken to hospital which had left him partially paralysed with some brain damage and unable to attend court.

The trial continues.