'Blast him,' cousin said to gunman before Sheffield woodland shooting that led to man losing two fingers

Cousins Ricky Mayfield, aged 30, and 24-year-old Francis Mayfield are jointly accused of attempted murder and possession of a firearm.

Sheffield Crown Court was told the shooting took place at around 2pm on April 23 last year.

The two defendants encountered the victim and three others as they were riding a quad bike in woodland off Smithy Wood Road in Chapeltown, Sheffield.

Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, told the court as the two groups came towards each other Francis shouted ‘blast him’ to Ricky, who produced a double-barrel shotgun and unsuccessfully fired it once at the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Mitchell said Ricky, of the Norfolk Park bail hostel, was then seen reloading the shotgun at which point his victim, also on a quad bike, rode towards him in a bid to stop him.

But the man was shot in the hand at ‘close range’, which resulted in him losing his middle finger, his little finger and part of his ring finger on his left hand.

“He rode away and went to the Travellers’ Inn, where the ambulance service were called,” said Mr Mitchell, adding that medical reports confirmed the man’s injuries were consistent with a ‘close range gun shot’.

The victim and one of the men he was with identified the two defendants to the police on the day of the offence.

‘Gun cartridges and pieces of flesh’ were later found in the woodland where the alleged incident is believed to have taken place, the court heard.

The victim and other witnesses described Ricky as wearing black trainers with red markings on them when the offence took place.

Mr Mitchell told jurors that CCTV evidence obtained by police shows Ricky wearing the trainers described as he left his address at 7.32am on the day of the offence, and shows him still wearing them when he returned at 8.52pm that evening.

Mr Mitchell added: “He went directly to the laundry room and washed his shoes and clothes, which were recovered from the washing machine when the police visited him at about midnight.

“The Crown say he washed the trainers he was wearing in order to disguise the evidence.”

Ricky was arrested in connection with the shooting in the early hours of April 24, 2017 while Francis, of Toppham, Road, Lowedges, was arrested some weeks later on May 17.

Mr Mitchell said the motivation for the shooting was not clear, but added the two defendants are believed to have ‘bad blood’ with their alleged victim.

Both defendants denied being involved in the incident and replied 'no comment' to all questions during their police interviews, the court was told.

Mr Mitchell said Francis' legal representation later delivered a defence statement containing an alibi, which claimed Francis was working on a farm some miles away from the scene of the alleged shooting between 11am and 2.30pm on the day of the offence.

He said: "Evidence shows the movement of his mobile phone. Shortly after 1pm it was in Sheffield, by 1.45pm it had moved to the north of the city and then it was in the area of the shooting. That was exactly the time the shooting itself happened."

After the Crown showed Francis' defence team evidence appearing to disprove his alibi, they delivered a second alibi - claiming that Francis had lent his sister his phone because she had broken hers.

They said Francis was using a new phone at the time of the alleged shooting.

"This is also untrue," said Mr Mitchell, adding: "Call data shows that broken phone was in use on the day of the shooting. Data for the phone Francis Mayfield was using shows that number wasn't in use until April 25 - so two days after the shooting."

"Francis Mayfield's reported untruths are further proof to the swathes of evidence we have in this case."

Ricky and Francis Mayfield both deny one count of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a firearm.

The trial continues.