A HITMAN paid by a family to assassinate a rival, ended up shooting one of the men who hired him, a court heard.

In a bizarre series of events, Thomas Anderson was accidentally shot in the penis by drive-by gunman Arthur "Arty" Pattinson, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Astonishingly, the bullet had passed through the arm of intended target of Stanley Creswell and then struck a garden gate before it went into Mr Anderson's groin.

Mr Pattinson 43, had been hired to kill Mr Creswell, 37, following a feud with William "Ike" Anderson, 30, over £60,000, the court heard. A retrial was ordered last year after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Yesterday, prosecutor Christopher Knox said Ike Anderson fled to the Dominican Republic a few days before the shooting, on August 19, 2003, after warning Mr Creswell he would be killed.

His father, William "Father Billy" Anderson, 56, and uncle, Thomas "Tommy" Anderson, 48, then continued the feud.

The court heard how Mr Pattinson, who was friendly with another member of the Anderson family, had been recruited to carry out the hit.

On the day of the shooting, Mr Cresswell had arrived at his home in Clydesdale Street, Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear, and went to confront Tommy Anderson at his home nearby, about an earlier altercation. The gunman arrived as planned, taking aim while Mr Creswell was at Mr Anderson's garden gate.

Ike Anderson, of High Street, Easington Lane, Thomas Anderson, of Borrowdale Street, Hetton le Hole, and William Anderson, of High Street, Easington Lane, and Mr Pattinson, of Striding Edge, Washington, all deny conspiracy to harrass and conspiracy to murder.

The trial continues.