A woman accused of murdering a father of three with a 12-bore shotgun wept in the dock as jurors watched footage of the firearm being tested.

Michaela Sargeant covered her face with her hands and began to shake as shots were discharged from the weapon she is accused of using to kill Kevin McKinley.

Mr McKinley, 32, of Louvain Road, Stone, died after being shot in Dartford on February 12.

Sargeant, 25, of Overy Street, Dartford, denies murder and manslaughter.

Her partner Lewis Wickenden, 26, of the same address, denies assisting an offender and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

A police interview with Sargeant was read out at Maidstone Crown Court, in which she described her and Wickenden’s relationship with Mr McKinley.

She told officers: “We weren’t close friends, but we bought our puppy from him.”

DC Samantha Stuart questioned Sargeant on their financial relationship, aside from the money for the puppy.

She said: “Did Lewis ever owe Kevin any other money? Drugs for example?”

Sargeant said no.

Ballistics expert Andre Botha was called to discuss the firing of the semi-automatic gun.

Mr Botha, who has 30 years’ experience as a firearm examiner, explained the pressure of firing the trigger as being equivalent to about 4lbs in weight.

The large black gun used to kill Mr McKinley was passed around the jurors, who pulled the trigger themselves to judge the pressure needed to fire the gun.

In a police interview read out in court, Sargeant maintained she had held the gun up to Mr McKinley’s face and told him to “leave them alone”, when the gun “just went off”.

She claims she was stood by the back gate of her home in Overy Street, Dartford.

Two shots were fired, one into Mr McKinley, and one at a downwards angle into the road. Which shot came first has not been confirmed.

By studying the indent in the road where one shot was fired, Mr Botha said the muzzle of the gun would have had to have been between half a metre and two metres away, and pointing downwards.

With the additional metre of the gun, the person shooting could not have been more than three metres away from the indent, the court heard.

The prosecution asked Mr Botha: “In that case, could the shot have been fired from the garden gate area?”

Mr Botha said: “No, the gun could not have been discharged from the garden gate area.”

According to Mr Botha, the angle of Mr McKinley’s injury, from the entry wound in his left buttock, could only have been inflicted if the gun had been fired upwards from low on the ground, or fired downward at Mr McKinley with him slightly bent over, or crouched on the floor.

In a demonstration to the jury Mr Botha showed, in various positions, where the person with the gun and Mr McKinley would have had to be stood to inflict such a wound.

To consider which shot came first, the court was then shown a DVD of police testing the firearm.

On every shot, the power of the gun and recoil lifted the muzzle upwards.

The gun was fired twice. In the dock, Sargeant covered her face with her hands and began to shake. Wickenden remained expressionless.

More shots were fired and Sargeant looked at the screen, crying and wiping her eyes. Her hand covered her mouth throughout the showing of the DVD, and she remained shaking.

“None of the lacerations or bruises are consistent with a fight just before death. They are what you would expect from a fall or collapse onto a road, or gravel” - pathologist Dr Swift

The defence questioned Mr Botha: “If Kevin McKinley was shot first, the recoil would have lifted the gun and it would have had to have been manoeuvred to then point down at the floor to fire.

“But if the shot hit the ground first, the gun would have recoiled upwards and it could have been at the right angle for the shot into the body?”

Mr Botha replied: “Both are possible”.

The court heard Sargeant claimed she got the gun to scare Mr McKinley after he began hitting and punching Wickenden.

Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift was called to discuss the wounds found on Mr McKinley.

He said: “None of the lacerations or bruises are consistent with a fight just before death.

“They are what you would expect from a fall or collapse onto a road, or gravel.”

The trial continues.

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