A “grumpy and volatile” 79-year-old Suffolk man barged into a former friend’s home and tried to kill him by shooting him at point blank range, it has been alleged.

David Wright was sitting on a sofa at his bungalow home on the outskirts of Brandon chatting on the phone to his elderly parents when Kier Huxtable walked in and pulled the trigger saying: “You deserve this, you b*****d”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Despite bleeding profusely from wounds to his shoulder and chest Mr Wright, who lost three pints of blood, grabbed the gun and wrestled Huxtable to the floor before hitting him to stop him getting up.

He later told police that he thought he was going to die during the incident.

The court heard that Huxtable, who was described as “grumpy and volatile” had been in a “foul mood” on October 11 last year after officials had towed some vehicles away from outside his home.

Mr Wright had nothing to do with it but in Huxtable’s mind he was connected with what happened, said Peter Clark, prosecuting.

Huxtable, of Stanford Road, Weeting, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border has denied attempting to murder Mr Wright on October 11 last year and a less serious alternative charge of wounding Mr Wright with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

The jury was told that Huxtable had admitted unlawfully possessing a firearm but denied possessing the weapon with intent to endanger life.

Opening the case to the jury, Mr Clark said: “What on earth possessed Kier Huxtable to take a loaded gun into David Wright’s home? Why was it loaded with ammunition? Why was it discharged into Mr Wright’s upper body?

“We say the defendant intended to kill David Wright. You don’t shoot someone in the chest as a warning or as a threat. You don’t shoot someone with a shot pistol in the upper body to cause them discomfort. If you shoot someone in that area you want to wipe them out, you want to kill them.

“It might be done in temper or anger. It might be regretted but at the moment the trigger was pulled the intention was obvious – it is to kill,” said Mr Clark.

The court heard that Huxtable and Mr Wright had met at an auction eight years ago and Huxtable would visit Mr Wright’s home and mend things for him.

Huxtable had been upset when Mr Wright went to Norwich several years ago with a man he detested and when Mr Wright got home he found his van had been vandalised and suspected the damage had been caused by Huxtable but couldn’t prove it.

Mr Wright had kept his distance from Huxtable but a year later they had met up and Huxtable told him he was lucky as if he hadn’t started talking to him again he had arranged for someone to shoot him and have his body crushed in a car at a scrapyard.

When Mr Wright asked why it hadn’t happened, he said the man had died of a heart attack the day before the shooting was to take place.

Mr Clark said that when Huxtable “barged” into Mr Wright”s home during the evening of October 11 last year Mr Wright hadn’t seen him for a year.

Huxtable had later allegedly told police that he didn’t have the strength in his hands to shoot anyone.

He accepted the gun was his and claimed he had gone to see Mr Wright to talk to him.

He told police that he hadn’t deliberately fired the gun and claimed it had gone off accidentally while Mr Wright was holding it.

Mr Clark said: “The prosecution say that carrying that loaded firearm to Mr Wright’s home and angrily barging in and firing it at Mr Wright’s upper body is clear proof that he intended to hurt Mr Wright and he intended to kill him.”

He said Huxtable’s claim that Mr Wright had caused the gun to go off was “complete nonsense”.

The trial continues.