Shot hit boy, 5, as he ran for home

THE STEPFATHER of a five-year-old boy shot dead in the street told a jury in Preston yesterday how he tried to flee from a gunman's bullets while holding the child's hand.

John Bates, 30, a self-confessed heroin dealer whom the prosecution claims was the target of a rival drugs gang, told Preston Crown Court that he was confronted by a gunman wearing a motorcycle helmet as he walked with his stepson, Dillon Hull, towards their home in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Mr Bates said that he had gone to collect Dillon from a friend's home nearby. He had noticed a man sitting in a car.

"I was holding Dillon's hand. I was talking to him about how he would be going to McDonald's for his tea," said Mr Bates.

"I looked up and saw the man who had been sitting in the car. He had a crash helmet on with the visor down. His left hand pulled the jacket open and his right hand reached for the gun."

When Mr Bates realised the man was aiming the gun, he started to run and dragged Dillon along with him.

Mr Bates said the first gunshot ricocheted off a wall. "The second shot hit me in the side. I continued to run, still holding Dillon's hand. I heard two more shots and felt Dillon slip from my grasp."

Mr Bates said he had run to his home in nearby Jauncey Street and banged on the door and window. He had left Dillon dead in the road just yards from home.

"I then ran back to Dillon who was lying on the floor. Dillon had been shot through the head," said Mr Bates.

The prosecution alleges that Dillon was the innocent victim of a bungled attempt to murder Mr Bates in August last year.

The alleged gunman, Paul Seddon, 27, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, denies murdering Dillon and attempting to murder Mr Bates. In the dock with him are David Hargreaves, 24, of Aldercroft Avenue, Breightmet, Craig Hollinrake, 25, of Glaister Lane, Breightmet, and Brian Roper, 22, of Ferndown Road, Harwood, all in Bolton.

They deny conspiring with Seddon to murder Mr Bates, but Mr Hargreaves and Mr Hollinrake have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by procuring the alteration of a taxi firm's records, knowing they would form part of the police murder investigation.

Mr Bates told the court that in February last year he had moved to Bolton from nearby Blackburn, where he had been dealing in drugs to help fund his own pounds 50-a-day heroin habit.

Shortly after his arrival in Bolton, Mr Hargreaves had summoned him to a meeting in a pub with a man called Billy Webb who had asked Mr Bates about his sources of supply. Mr Webb said he wanted Mr Bates to buy drugs from him and set up a business for him in Blackburn.

Mr Bates said he received two further phone calls from Hargreaves asking whether he had made up his mind. "I didn't want to get involved," said Mr Bates. He admitted he had continued to sell some drugs in Bolton to customers who travelled from Blackburn and Accrington.

Mr Bates said an attempt had been made on his life earlier on that day when he and Dillon were shot. He had been sitting in his front room shortly after midnight with the curtains partially open when two shots were fired through the window, missing his head by less than a foot.

Dillon's mother, Jane Hull, picked up the telephone to call the police, but Mr Bates stopped her. He told the court that he suspected Mr Hargreaves had some connection with the shooting.

"I was confused. I was in shock," said Mr Bates. "I was frightened that my life had nearly been taken."

The court heard last week that a plot had been hatched by the four men to murder Mr Bates because he had refused to work for the Bolton drugs gang, who knew he was able to obtain drugs cheaply.

The trial continues.