A man has claimed he pulled the trigger of a shotgun accidentally when blasting an intruder in the chest at point-blank range.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard Matt Clements had bared his chest “in a macho way” before climbing onto scaffolding at Kenneth Batchelor’s Chilham home to reach the second floor.

Batchelor said Mr Clements, a 20-stone body builder who provided doormen for clubs, had told him: “I will get my gun out before you raise the barrels.”

The 50-year-old self-employed mechanic said he believed him because had previously seen Mr Clements with firearms including an Uzi 9mm and a handgun.

Batchelor said Mr Clements, 42, hit the open window with full force and knocked him back.

“As I have gone back, I have snatched at the trigger and the gun’s gone off,” he told the jury of seven men and five women. “I was not intending to pull the trigger.

“I didn’t know how badly he was injured. He looked at me wide-eyed and I looked at him wide-eyed. He ran around the corner. I thought he was still alive.

“I could see spots of blood on the planks. I knew he was at least injured. I was completely in bits. I didn’t know what to do.

“The gun wasn’t pointed at him. I don’t point a loaded weapon at a human being. I never have and never will.”

Batchelor, who owned the gun legally, said Mr Clements had made nine threatening telephone calls to him before turning up at his home in Canterbury Road, Chilham, around midnight on November 17 2007.

The calls involved Mr Clements, who trained guard dogs, demanding money he claimed his girlfriend was owed in maintenance by his brother David.

Batchelor denied a suggestion by prosecutor Cairns Nelson that he shot Mr Clements, of Wayside Avenue, St Michael’s, Tenterden, deliberately while defending himself and his property.

He also denied he decided to he decided to sort the matter out “once and for all”.

Mr Nelson had described Mr Clements as a bully with an explosive temper and Batchelor “a perfectly decent and respectable man”.

Batchelor denies murder and manslaughter.

The trial continues.