THE man accused of attempted murder outside a St Neots nightclub has claimed he did not deliberately fire a shotgun at the bouncers who had earlier thrown him out of the club.

THE man accused of attempted murder outside a St Neots nightclub has claimed he did not deliberately fire a shotgun at the bouncers who had earlier thrown him out of the club.

Jack William Smith told Cambridge Crown Court that he just wanted to “frighten” the bouncers who were stood outside the Unique Bar and Night Club.

But the shot he fired from inside his BMW on December 18, 2009, struck Christopher Tann in the face.

Giving evidence on Monday, the 28-year-old said: “Now I can just look back and say thank God he wasn’t injured seriously. I’m sorry.”

However, he denies charges of attempted murder, wounding with intent, having a firearm with the intent to cause an indictable offence, namely murder, and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Mr Smith said it was only a random shot to scare those who had ejected him from the bar.

“I just intended to shoot it to make a noise to frighten them. It was just to make a noise more than anything, to let the gun go off. If I’d wanted to hit them, I could’ve done it easily.”

Mr Smith claimed he had been “taunted and bullied” on the night of the incident. He had argued with his partner in the South Street venue and was removed by security staff who, he said, told him not to come back and slammed the door in his face.

After he was ejected from the club, Mr Smith went home grabbed a shotgun and drove back into town, saying: “All I wanted to do was show them that they can’t bully and threaten people.”

He added: “I wasn’t thinking about hitting anyone and I didn’t think of the consequences. I didn’t intend to do anything serious with it.”

When he drove past the night club, he rested the weapon on the window of the car and pulled the trigger but said he couldn’t see exactly where it was aimed.

He then drove off and threw the gun into a river in Little Paxton before returning home to The Caravan Park, Cambridge Road, St Neots.

Prosecuting, Angela Rafferty said: “If a loaded shotgun is fired at someone’s head it’s likely to hurt them, isn’t it?”

Mr Smith said he “didn’t want to hurt anyone” and added: “I didn’t know the capacity of what the gun could do.”

Last week Mr Tann told the court how he was chatting to colleagues outside the club when he realised he was looking down the barrel of a shotgun.

The prosecution claim Mr Smith had carried out a deliberate attempt to kill.

The case continues.