West Lancs farmer shot in knee by gang told it would be his ‘face or genitals next’, court hears – Lancs Live

A West Lancashire farmer told how a gun-wielding thug who'd stormed his home with an armed gang and shot him in the knee told the 65-year-old "there's another one coming, it's going in your face, your teeth or in your d***."

Charles Baldwin told Preston Crown Court how he was woken from a deep sleep by a gang of thieves, shot in his knee and then being smashed in the teeth with the gun even after he tried to comply with their demands.

The pig farmer's statement to detectives was played to a jury, detailing how a gang-of-five raided his Back Lane bungalow home in Aughton when they shot him twice, in the knee and foot, which still remains at risk of amputation.

Six men are on trial for the violent robbery, on July 28, 2019, which saw men brandishing shotguns flood into his rural home, announcing their arrival by "blowing the summerhouse patio doors away" with gunfire, the jury heard.

They all deny the offences, the ECHO reports.

Mr Baldwin told police: "He [the ringleader] said there's another one [gunshot] coming, it's going in your face, your teeth or in your d***."

The farmer was with his partner Patricia Musselle when the gang broke in and when the main gunman shot him in the knee - as he was "frogmarched " from his outdoor summerhouse inside his bungalow - she cried out: "He didn't deserve that!"

Alan Daniels, 37, from Kirkby, has already admitted being the ringleader and awaits sentence. Mr Baldwin's nearby neighbour Thomas Cunningham, 58, of Aughton, Anthony Hill, 40, of Kirkby, Craig Reynolds, 36, of Kirkby, and Alan Hemmings, 45, of Kirkby, Dean Sanders, 32, of St Andrews Court, North Shields, and Anthony Shrimpton, 32, of Kirkby, all deny conspiring to commit robbery.

A video of Mr Baldwin's police interview was played to a jury at Preston Crown Court from his bed at Aintree Hospital, two weeks after the "excessively violent" robbery.

Explaining how he was sleeping deeply in his summer house after a day's work and five gin and tonics, he told officers: "I was fast asleep, and then I heard a commotion outside and I didn't have a clue what it was.

"So I got up, and my little dog with me.

"And the summerhouse has patio doors, and there were these four fellas with, erm, erm, masks on and hoodies, and dancing round with shotguns, and putting the cartridges in.

"And then one of them must have sawand seen me and he, he shot at me, which blew the patio door away.

"I ducked back, and I literally thought, 'Am I dreaming?'"

Mr Baldwin heard the men shout, "get out of there or we'll shoot you out of there," forcing him to emerge outside and ask, "What's going on?"

The farmer described how the men repeatedly asked him, "where's your money?" and refused to believe him when he begged that he didn't have much.

One of the gang told him: "You've got loads of money you," before adding: "Your bloody brother told me you had loads of cash!"

Mr Baldwin was shot in his leg, prosecutor Francis McEntee said, seemingly because he was taking too long to walk into the bungalow.

His partner Patricia, inside watching television at the time, initially thought it was someone shooting pheasants, while his ex-wife, who lives nearby, also heard the gunfire, that evening.

In his account to police, Mr Baldwin said: "I got to my computer desk in the office as that's where the cash box is.

"I pulled the bottom drawer and he pulled the top drawer where there were six watches and he pocketed them.

"He said, 'you've got more than this'.

"I said, 'I haven't, if I had you can have it.'"

The ringleader replied: "Have you got any guns?

"Answer me quicker!"

At this point, Mr Baldwin was shot in his ankle, leaving him with a very serious wound which has led to mobility issues and the remaining threat of amputation.

The Aughton man said: I didn't want to give these guns cos they might kill somebodys child with them, but I had no alternative."

The gun was jabbed into his face and one of the gang scooped up jewellery from Ms Musselle's dressing table as wounded Mr Baldwin protested, "I'm in bloody agony!"

He added to police: "I thought I didn't want Trish to end up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, or my dog dead.

"I thought, if you're going to let another one go, I'll die."

The raiders went upstairs with Ms Musselle, leaving Mr Baldwin, badly injured with two separate gunshot wounds, being guarded by one of the thugs.

Starting to falter as he spoke to police, he continued with his statement, saying: "I thought the only way out is to fake a heart attack.

"I said, 'listen mate, I'm 65, my body can't take what you've done to me, I'm having a heart attack, I'm in a bad way."

That caused the sentry man to turn edgy, the jury heard, and the gang soon left, but not before one warned him: "If you call police within an hour, I'll come back and I'll kill you."

The gang took Mr Baldwin's wallet containing 250 cash, bank cards, his PIN numbers, and four guns, one of them a Westley Richards 12-bore shotgun.

He also recalled how the ringleader, who he referred to as "the bad one" twice put a gun in his mouth, and of the smash to his face, he added: "He took great delight...it really hurt."

The gang member in charge, told to the jury to be Daniels, ordered the 65-year-old to remove his gold bracelet, and while watching him use a paper knife to cut it free, warned him to "not get any ideas".

Cunningham, of Back Lane, Aughton, Anthony Hill, of Oakdale Close, Kirkby, Craig Reynolds, of Birchmuir Hey, Kirkby, Alan Hemmings, of Balmoral Close, Kirkby, Dean Sanders, of St Andrews Court, North Shields, and Anthony Shrimpton, of Kirkby Row, Kirkby, all deny conspiring to commit robbery.

Sanders also faces two charges of Section 18 grievous bodily harm and having a firearm with intent.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Proceeding

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West Lancs farmer shot in knee by gang told it would be his 'face or genitals next', court hears - Lancs Live