A jury was invited to handle the gun allegedly used to murder a drug dealer at an isolated Bradford lay-by.

And the 12 members also studied the van in which Nicholas Hickson is accused of blasting his supplier Philip in the neck before 'finishing him off' with a shot to the head.

A gun expert told a murder jury that three shots - not two - were fired when Philip Smith, right, was killed.

Dr Philip Alexander forensic scientist specialising in firearms told Leeds Crown Court the first two shots hit Mr Smith in the neck and the back of the van.

A third, after the gun was reloaded, hit him in the head.

The court had heard the man accused, Nicholas Hickson, 32, of Royds Avenue, Birkenshaw had said only two shots had been fired. Hickson is accused of murdering Mr Smith over a debt.

Dr Alexander said the gun used was a Russian-made Baikal double barrel shotgun which would have had to be reloaded to fire a third shot.

Asked about the sequence of shots by prosecutor Franz Muller QC he said: "The shot to the neck and to the transit van were first and second and the head shot came after the gun was reloaded."

He said the driver's seat of the Ford Transit van had shown damage by a cartridge.

He confirmed that waddings had been found from three cartridges. Hickson had told police the gun had gone off accidentally after he hit his own van door as Mr Smith entered the van on February 19, 2002.

The gun was later recovered from a Leeds reservoir.

Earlier a friend of Mr Hickson, Andrew Hainsworth said Hickson had told him he was in trouble over money he owed. Asked if he knew of Hickson's involvement with drugs, he said: "I did not class him as a drug dealer, it came as a surprise, I did not think he would be involved in that."

He revealed Hickson had told him he wanted to settle down, have a family, and continue in the plumbing trade.

He once visited Hickson in hospital after he had been knee-capped and asked him about his injuries and was told "it was none of his business."

He said he knew of a Mr Smith but did not know him personally.

Later the jury looked at the van's interior and were also able to handle the gun for themselves.