A SUSPECTED hitman yesterday denied being involved in the revenge shooting of a club doorman.

Thomas Dalton admitted he had sold the jeep used in the shooting of John Ormston to an unidentified man in the days leading up to the incident.

But the father-of-three told jurors he would never reveal who the jeep was sold on to - for fear of being the target of a hitman himself.

During his evidence at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, Mr Dalton told jurors he had received a warning of the possible consequences if he were to provide the police with information of who he had sold the jeep on to.

Mr Dalton denied he had asked former drug addict Robert Giles if he had wanted to be involved in the shooting during a meeting behind the West Park pub in South Shields, South Tyneside.

He told jurors that although he had been in the car with fellow accused Samuel Hill that day, Giles had not been in the car and they had had no conversation. Mr Dalton said he cannot specifically remember where he was on the night of the shooting, which happened on Sunday, April 10, last year.

He and Samuel Hill are accused of being hired by Steven Blackburn to target John Ormston, whom he wrongly believed was a police informer.

Mr Ormston was shot as he sat in his car outside his girlfriend's home in Hallow Drive, and suffered two gunshot wounds.

Mr Dalton, 26, of Pine Avenue, South Shields, Mr Hill, 24, of Lyon Street, Hebburn, South Tyneside, and Mr Blackburn, 24, of no fixed address, all deny conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues.