A WOMAN was ambushed and shot in the face at close range with a shotgun by a pair of mask-wearing heroin dealers, a court heard.

Kerry Reeves and two friends had armed themselves with baseball bats gone searching for two heroin dealers in Abingdon when she was ambushed and gunned down in an alleyway.

Despite being rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital, she died two days later.

A jury of seven women and five men heard today the 26-year-old and her friends had previously had violent run-ins with dealers Charles Noble and Billy Johnson.

Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls QC told Oxford Crown Court Miss Reeves, Craig Pitts and Craig Parslow spotted 21-year-old Noble, known as Dillon, and gave chase but he escaped.

Mr Fenhalls said as the friends went down an alleyway behind Thornhill Walk at about 8pm they heard “rustling” noises before Mr Pitts heard a loud bang.

“He could hear rustling coming from the bushes and saw two figures,” he said.

“He heard a loud, deep banging noise and the two figures ran off. He didn’t see their faces.

“Kerry fell forward and landed on her face. He shone his torch on her and saw blood pouring from her face.”

The court heard her other friend, Mr Parslow, saw two people who were wearing gloves and plastic masks right before the shot was fired.

Neighbours, some of whom thought they had heard a firework, rushed from their homes and tried to help Miss Reeves before emergency services arrived.

The jury was told how she was shot just below her left eye from a distance of about six to 10 feet with a weapon consistent with a .410 calibre shotgun.

The court was also told 20-year-old Johnson known as CJ, had been going out with Miss Reeves’ ex-girlfriend Nicole Blackman after the women’s relationship had ended “badly” in 2014.

Mr Fenhalls said there was also history of violence between the two groups, with Mr Pitts attacking Johnson in 2014, and himself being attacked by some unknown men armed with a knife and baseball bat seven days before the shooting.

But, although he did not know who had attacked him, Mr Fenhalls said Mr Pitts had his suspicions.

He said: “The starting point was a history of trouble, trouble on the one hand between Kerry Reeves and some of her friends and the defendants in this case.

“In late October of last year tension was rising and by November 3 troubles were really afoot. The shooting that took place was the culmination of that trouble.

“There is a background to this case of drugs, some violence, no doubt alcohol.”

The prosecutor told the jury Johnson and Noble had shot Miss Reeves, but only the pair of them knew who had actually pulled the trigger.

He said: “Johnson and Noble together approached this group, they had a gun.

“They plainly knew what they were doing, they were in it together, they went out together and together they ambushed and shot Kerry Reeves.”

Mr Fenhalls told the court Johnson had shown people a sawn-off shotgun in the days leading up to the attack, but when friends warned Miss Reeves he was armed she said she did not care.

Johnson, of Ripon Court, Corby, Northamptonshire, and Noble, of Kempton Avenue, Northolt, Ealing, both deny murdering Miss Reeves.

The trial continues.