The FRIEND of a woman gunned down in the darkness by his side recollected the moment he turned to see her on the floor "bleeding to death".

Craig Pitts took the stand at Oxford Crown Court yesterday and gave his account of the November evening when prosecutors say Kerry Reeves was murdered in Abingdon by two drug dealers.

Mr Pitts confessed to the court he felt "guilty" he ignored warnings heroin dealer Billy Johnson, known as CJ, was armed with a gun before scouring the town with Miss Reeves, carrying baseball bats, in search of him to settle a "feud".

Ali Naseem Bajwa QC, defending Noble, said: "Did you feel guilty that having been told about that gun, that you in fact carried on to look for CJ with these baseball bats?"

Mr Pitts, who worked for a timber firm at the time of the shooting, replied: "Of course I do, looking at the outcome of it."

The pair, along with Craig Parslow, had followed Charles Noble, Johnson's fellow drug dealer, to confront him about Mr Pitts being stabbed a week beforehand by a trio of men, which he believed Johnson was involved in.

Mr Pitts told a jury of seven women and five men he first saw Noble on the night of the shooting near Brampton Close and having followed him, eventually ended up in Thornhill Walk.

He said he heard "whispering or rustling" when the trio walked down the street's alleyway, quickly followed by an "abrupt" loud bang.

The witness said he then spotted two figures running off into the darkness but did not see who they were.

Mr Pitts recalled the moment Miss Reeves collapsed to the ground, initially thinking she had been struck by a firework before reality set in and he noticed blood pouring from her face.

Defence barrister Mr Bajwa quizzed him about why he told officers, who arrived at the scene before paramedics, he did not see anyone run away or hear anything at the time of the shooting.

Mr Pitts said: "I was shocked. My mind was [thinking] my mate is on the floor dying. Why are police asking questions when there should be an ambulance there?

"Why are the police asking questions when my friend is bleeding to death? I was all over the place at this time."

Paul Keleher QC, defending Johnson, put it to Mr Pitts that he was "keeping quiet" about why Miss Reeves was shot.

He said: "It may be that this shooting is a follow up to that [earlier stabbing]. What do you say to that?

Mr Pitts replied: "I can't say anything to that because I don't know."

Mr Keleher continued: "And that Kerry, it would appear, got caught up in the crossfire in some criminal feud that you are mixed up in."
Mr Pitts denied being part of a criminal gang. 

Standing throughout his time in the witness box, Mr Pitts confessed he only returned to Thornhill Walk once to lay flowers at the scene.

He added: "I did care about Kerry."

During the trial, jurors heard how Miss Reeves died at the John Radcliffe Hospital two days after she was shot just below her left eye from a distance of about six to 10 feet, with a weapon consistent with a shotgun.

Johnson, of Ripon Court, Corby, Northants, and Noble, of Kempton Avenue, Northolt, Ealing, deny murdering the 26-year-old on November 5.

The trial continues.