A MAN shot at close range in his bed said goodbye to his wife because he thought he was going to die, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Kevin Ruding told how he was woken when he was hit in the leg after two masked intruders smashed their way into his home in Greenholme Court, Holme Wood, Bradford, in the early hours of January 30.

Mr Ruding was sitting in a wheelchair for his video-recorded police interview on March 20.

He told the jury he had lost his left leg and his right lung after he was shot in the calf and the chest. He also had shrapnel in his diaphragm.

William Lowther, 47, known as Billy, of Copgrove Road, Holme Wood, Bradford, denies attempting to murder Mr Ruding and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Mr Ruding said he saw two men dressed in black, in gloves and balaclavas, in the bedroom doorway.

They stood side by side and were all in black. He could not see their faces.

Each had a long barrel shotgun with a gold trigger.

Mr Ruding said they were not big men. Maybe about his build but slightly shorter. He said he was five feet 11 inches tall.

One said: “Where’s Hughesy’s money?” He did not have time to reply before he was shot in the chest.

Mr Ruding said he did not recognise the voice as the words were spoken very fast.

He recalled his wife Emily pressing a pillow to his chest.

“She was on the phone to the police. She was crying and screaming. I said goodbye to her,” but she was shaking him to keep him awake until the ambulance arrived.

He was wrapped up by the paramedics and taken across the street to the ambulance.

Mr Ruding was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and recalled nothing after that for about two days.

He said he had to return to the hospital for follow-up treatment. His wife now had to do a lot for him which was a lot of stress on her.

He said he had seen a gun with a gold trigger, similar to that being carried by the intruders, at Lowther’s home when they used to be good friends. Although they were no longer friends, they had not argued or fallen out.

Mr Ruding said that Gareth Hughes was one of his best friends and he was talking to him on the phone the night before he was shot.

He watched a box set of Spartacus before he went to sleep and his next memory was of being shot in the leg.

Mr Ruding said he and his wife had lived at the address for about two years. Their little boy was asleep in his bedroom during the shooting.

He described as “bullsh*t” what people had been saying about there being “£50,000 to get Billy dead.”

The trial continues.