A man accused of burgling a millionaire’s mansion told a jury he was “scared” of his co-defendant who was drunk and wielding a shotgun.

East Anglian Daily Times: Image released by Essex Police showing the door that was shot through by burglars in Sible Hedingham.Image released by Essex Police showing the door that was shot through by burglars in Sible Hedingham. (Image: Archant)

Insurance worker Timothy Mardon, 51, was shot in the leg through his bedroom door during a raid on the Old Rectory in Sible Hedingham in the early hours of February 6 this year.

Christopher Bergin, 27, told Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday he was at his grandmother’s house with a girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when his co-defendant Charlie Simms, 23, arrived unannounced.

Bergin said Simms “was very drunk”, had a shotgun with him and let off two gunshots outside the house.

The two men and the girl then went into a bedroom and were drinking together, the court heard.

Bergin told the jury the “mood changed” after Simms asked if the girl wanted to have sex with them both, and began waving the gun around when she refused.

“He didn’t seem happy he didn’t get his way,” said Bergin. “He asked me again to go to the Old Rectory.”

He said Simms fired a round into the stairs as they left the property together.

“I just wanted to get him out of my property,” he said. “I just wanted him to go home.”

He said Simms was convinced the Old Rectory was connected with drug dealing.

“I was saying ‘it’s not what you think it is’,” said Bergin.

“He was threatening me. I was scared. He’s got a gun.

“I was scared of getting myself shot, scared of trouble coming back to my house.”

The pair scaled the wall of the Old Rectory, and Bergin pretended he had seen someone in the hope of deterring Simms.

Simms climbed on to a balcony and told Bergin to climb up too, the court heard, before he smashed a window with the butt of the gun.

They climbed in and searched for drugs, rattling doors.

“The last I saw of him was when he was at the top of the stairs,” said Bergin.

“When I was at the window running I heard a bang.

“It didn’t sound like a proper loud bang. It sounded like the door was being kicked or something.”

Prosecutors allege this was the shot fired through the bedroom door which caused serious injuries to Mr Mardon.

He said he ran straight home.

“I didn’t want to be in the situation in the first place,” he said. “All I wanted to do the whole night was spend time with (the girl).”

Simms, of North Road, Halstead, Essex, Bergin, of Hawkwood Road, Sible Hedingham and Kalebh Shreeve, 24, of Gibson Road, Halstead, all deny offences including aggravated burglary and possession of a firearm.

Simms also denies attempted murder.

The trial continues.