THE gun used to shoot a man in a rugby club car park cannot be identified because the bullet is still in the victim's body, a firearms expert told a court yesterday.

Anthony Walls, 23, was shot in the groin at Guisborough rugby club car park when he was attacked by two men in balaclavas as he sat in his Ford Mondeo car.

Doctor Philip Alexander, a forensic scientist specialising in firearms, studied x-rays of him.

He told Teesside Crown Court: "The bullet was from a very small handgun but the fact that it has not been recovered makes its full examination impossible and I cannot say what type of gun fired it."

He confirmed it was not an adapted air pistol, which police found dumped on a nearby rail track.

Mr Walls, of Auckland Street, Guisborough, told the court that he had seen his attackers' faces on February 4, before they pulled down their balaclavas.

He alleged that the gunman was Dean Rye, 33 and Anthony Dewing, 20, smashed his driver's window with half a paving slab. Mr Rye of Boosbeck Road, Skelton Green, and Mr Dewing, of Larch Road, Guisborough, both deny attempted murder.

They and Mr Rye's brother Craig, 35, of Eskdale Terrace Guisborough, also deny wounding him with intent at an incident in The Buck Inn, Guisborough, on January 31. The case continues.