Two men involved in a shooting outside a young mother’s home were told they could be facing prison sentences into, “double figures”.

High Court Judge Mr Justice Martin Spencer gave the warning to 29-year-old Aaron Giles and his 40-year-old co-accused, Kevin Chapman, after they were found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, following a two-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court, which ended on Monday (March 13).

Giles, of Richardson Avenue, and Chapman, of Hawthorne Avenue, both South Shields, were cleared, however, of the alternative of conspiracy to commit murder.

The Northern Echo:

Aaron Giles, 29, planned shooting at home where 'rival' was staying, in South Shields

The offences arose after an unknown masked gunman twice fired a shotgun at the door of a house in Brownlow Road, South Shields, shortly after 8.30pm on September 21, last year.

Read more: South Shields murder conspiracy trial told dispute led to shooting

A young mother and her partner were at the house at the time, while her one-year-old son was sleeping upstairs.

No-one was injured in the shooting but it caused damage to the house door.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that although the full background to the incident may never emerge, it was the culmination of a "tit-for-tat" dispute between Giles and the man who was in the house at the time.

Thise included windows being put out and cars being damaged in preceding days.

Giles was said to have been behind the planned shooting, recruiting taxi driver Chapman to act as the escort for himself and the gunman.

The Northern Echo:

Taxi driver Kevin Chapman, recruited to drive gunman to the scene of shooting

As the taxi, with its company markings removed as an attempt at disguise, drove past the house, Giles is said to have called the name of the intended target to try to lure him out into the sights of the gunman, who was hiding behind a parked car waiting to fire.

But when he failed to emerge, Giles instructed the marksman to fire, saying: “Go on, go on”, before he shot at the door.

The man in the house then ran out with an airgun and chased the marksman into another street but failed to catch up with him.

Read more: Two men accused of plotting South Shields murder to go on trial

Giles made off in the taxi and was dropped at a social club, where he was picked up by another cab, and he was only arrested in London two days later.

Chapman was arrested in his taxi four days after the shooting.

Although Giles admitted having the firearm with intent to cause a fear of violence, both he and Chapman were found guilty of the more serious offence of possessing it to endanger life.

Read next:

               Trial date set next year for pair charged with South Shields murder conspiracy

               South Shields shotgun incident: Third man charged

               Murder plot accused Aaron Giles in court over South Shields shotgun incident

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Following the jury verdicts, the Mr Justice Spencer said he would sentence both on his return to the court, in May.

But he warned counsel for both defendants that their clients were, “looking at a double-figure sentence.”

He thanked the jury for their efforts in the “administration of justice” and remanded both defendants to remain in custody to be sentenced on Friday May 5.