A MOTHER-of-four broke down as she described how her husband was shot by a hitman in a family feud.

Tracy Creswell wept as she told a jury at Newcastle Crown Court how her injured husband, Stan, had come into the kitchen of their home, in Clydesdale Street, Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear.

She said she had been to fetch her husband's lunch and could see Thomas Anderson's car parked at the end of the street.

When she went inside to microwave Mr Creswell's meal, she heard a "really loud bang" and a car moving away quickly.

"Stan came to the door and he had his T-shirt wrapped around his arm, and he told me to call an ambulance because he had been shot," she said.

Mrs Creswell telephoned for an ambulance, then drove to her brother's house. Asked why she did not call the police immediately, she said: "I do not know."

When cross-examined by Ben Nolan QC, in mitigation for alleged gunman Arthur Pattinson, Mr Creswell said he had received a threatening telephone call from a man with a Geordie accent, in which he was told: "Your time will come".

Thomas Anderson was said to have been shot in the penis by Mr Pattinson after the bullet passed through Mr Creswell's arm and through a garden gate.

Mr Pattinson 42, is said to have been hired by the Anderson brothers to kill Mr Creswell, 36, following a long-running feud with William "Ike" Anderson, over £60,000.

William Anderson, 29, of High Street, Easington Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, has admitted two charges of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He denies conspiracy to harrass and conspiracy to murder.

Stanley Anderson, 43, of North View, Easington Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, Thomas Anderson, 47, of Borrowdale Street, Hetton-le-Hole, and William Anderson, 55, of High Street, Easington Lane, each deny conspiracy to harrass and conspiracy to murder.

The trial continues.