A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has denied he was holding a firearm the moment a man was fatally gunned down on his doorstep.

Thomas Moseley says his murder accused father, Matthew, 50, shouldered a left-handed 12-gauge semi-automatic Beretta shotgun and shot Lee Holt, 32, as the front door opened at their family home in Oswaldtwistle last October.

The prosecution says the defendant then handed the firearm to Thomas and before the police arrived told his son to take the blame.

Yesterday, Nick Johnson QC, defending, suggested it was Thomas though who aimed the gun at Mr Holt.

Preston Crown Court has heard Mr Holt went to the address in Barnard Close with his partner and her 15-year-old son, Wesley Metcalfe, to confront him over an ongoing dispute between the schoolboys.

The barrister put it to Thomas that one of his father’s shotguns had been left leaning against a cabinet and that he had picked up three shotgun shells after he heard a commotion outside the house.

Mr Johnson said: “Your dad was not on one knee taking a shotgun out of the gun cabinet.”

Giving evidence by videolink, Thomas replied: “Yeah, he was.”

Mr Johnson said: “Do you remember Mr Holt just by the front door as it opened and at that stage you walked past your dad, holding the gun in front of you?

“No,” said the teenager.

The barrister went on: “You were aiming it out the door?”

Thomas said: “No.”

Mr Johnson said: “Your dad followed you out and tried to lift the gun up from the way you were holding it?”

The teenager repeated: “No.”

Mr Johnson said: “And that’s when the gun went off, when you were holding it?”

Thomas said: “No. No.”

The barrister said: “The truth was, Thomas, that the gun was in your hand at the time Lee Holt was shot?”

No,” he said.

Mr Johnson asked: “Did you mean it to go off?”

Thomas replied: “Never did it.”

Mr Johnson said: “Was it your dad taking hold of it that moved your finger on the trigger?”

“No,” said the witness.

Thomas also denied threatening people on the driveway with the weapon and that his father had told him to go back inside the house.

Earlier, the jury was played a video of police bodycam footage taken in the Moseleys’ living room where Thomas was arrested on the evening of October 25.

During the footage Thomas was heard to say: “How long do you get for that?”

His father responds: “You are not going anywhere.”

Thomas replies: “I will though ... it’s attempted murder, like.”

Matthew Moseley says: “You won’t. It’s not attempted murder, forcing their way in and attacking you which they did.”

Before Thomas is led from from the house he says to his father: “I’m sorry dad. I’m really sorry.”

Mr Johnson asked him: “Why did you apologise to your dad?”

Thomas replied: “I don’t know. It’s a stressful situation, isn’t it?”

Matthew Moseley denies murder. The trial continues.