THE CASE made against members of the Broadway family accused of murdering Wilfred Isaacs Snr is set to finish being heard this week.

Mr Isaacs, 48, died from shotgun wounds at Chubbards Cross caravan park in Ilton, near Ilminster, on May 5, sparking a police man hunt.

John, Charlie and Billy Broadway all deny the murder of Mr Isaacs as well as the attempted murder of his son Wilfie Isaacs Jnr.

Charlie Broadway and Billy Broadway also deny a charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

On Monday, the trial at Bristol Crown Court saw a forensic scientist firearms examiner called to give evidence.

Robert Huw Griffiths, of ArroGen forensics, showed the court the alleged murder weapon, a shortened sawn-off Turkish-made Hatsan shotgun.

Mr Griffiths described to the court the modifications that had been made to the weapon. Its barrel had been shortened and the stock removed to create a pistol-like grip.

Shortening the barrel of the gun to around 35cm stopped part of the mechanism from working, stopping the gun from self-loading.

This would mean if it was used to shoot Wilfie Isaacs Jnr in the shoulder and then fatally wound Wilf Isaacs Snr as alleged, then the shooter would have to have pulled the bolt back again before the second shot.

The firearms expert also explained to the court where the shots could be been fired from on the site, as well as whether used shotgun cartridges found on the scene could be connected to the alleged murder weapon.

Wilfred Isaacs Snr wound suggested he was shot from behind on his left hand side.

The angle of the gunshot wound also suggested Mr Isaacs may have been lying on the floor at the time and that the trigger was pulled within two feet of the victim, the court heard.

Marks left by part of the gun such as the weapon’s firing pin and extractor can been seen on cartridges and used to tell if a cartridge has been inside a particular gun in the past.

Mr Griffiths confirmed the one cartridge which had found inside the shotgun had definitely been through the gun’s mechanism but not fired.

Two other cartridges found on the site were confirmed to have been fired from a gun, and that there were “indications of being fired from that gun but not sufficiently good marks to say it had definitely been fired from that gun.”

Joseph Finney, Riley Jones and Charlie Broadway also deny unlawfully wounding Wilfred Isaacs Snr and the assault occasioning actual bodily harm of Wilfie Isaacs Jnr.

Bonnie Wilson denies a charge of assisting an offender.

The trial continues.