A MAN who was shot and killed on a Teesside housing estate “knew he was going to die”, a jury was told.

Lee Pettite was said to have claimed he was either going to die or was going back to jail after arranging what a witness said was a “one-on-one” fight with Christopher Stubbs.

Stubbs, 21, of Tyne Street, South Bank, near Middlesbrough, admits 22-year-old Mr Pettite’s murder in Eston on March 1 this year.

But two other men Luke Lovell and Gordon ‘Blue’ Smith deny the same charge as part of a “joint enterprise” to attack Mr Pettite and are on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Another witness in the trial, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said she saw the three men stood behind a shed wall near Mr Pettite’s home on the day of his death.

The woman, who had been looking out of her bedroom window, described Luke Lovell as holding a long stick, which his barrister, Richard Sutton, said could have been half a billiard cue, to which the woman agreed.

Mr Sutton suggested the witness had been wrong in her description of what Mr Lovell was wearing, although she rejected this and said her recollection was “okay”.

The witness said she saw the victim’s mother come out to speak to the men and “chase them away”.

Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton, who carried out a post mortem on 22-year-old Mr Pettite said he suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and died as a result of significant blood loss.

She described how a bullet had gone into Mr Pettite’s back and out the front, damaging his right lung in the process.

She also described fragments of metal in his right toe from a “deformed projectile or bullet”. The pathologist suggested this could have ricocheted off the floor, before hitting his toe.

Dr Bolton said there was no evidence of a blunt or sharp force assault on the victim, who was also not suffering from any natural disease.

PC Mark Outhwaite, a firearms expert, said he had been asked to examine ammunition recovered by police from Stubbs’ home.

He said it was designed to expand on impact and dumped a “lot of kinetic energy” within the body.

Mr Lovell, 22, of Wilton Way, Whale Hill, Eston, says he went along with Mr Stubbs to ensure a fair fight and was not aware he had a gun.

Mr Smith, 23, of Laburnum Road, Teesville, Middlesbrough, claims he had no knowledge of the nature of the dispute between the two men and also saw no weapon at any stage.

The trial continues.