A BURNLEY man is facing jail after providing a hideout for a teenage friend who had carried out a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun shooting.

Ryan Duggan blasted dad-of-two Daniel Kennedy on a public footpath after he remonstrated with a group of teens who had been intimidating locals.

A court was told had the shotgun pellets not smashed into the victim’s mobile phone, which he kept in his pocket, and been deflected away from his vital organs, Duggan may have been facing a murder charge.

After the shooting, in which 25-year-old Mr Kennedy suffered serious abdominal injuries, Duggan fled to a flat in Burnley where his friend Jordan Grimes was living.

It was there that Cheshire Police tracked down and arrested Duggan.

Duggan, 19, was found guilty of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life after a three-day trial at Chester Crown Court.

He had already pleaded guilty to wounding, causing grievous bodily harm, possessing a firearm without a certificate and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Grimes pleaded guilty to assisting an offender at an earlier court hearing and will be sentenced alongside Duggan at the same crown court on July 10.

The attack in Widnes in October happened after a group of youths turned off the water to the block of flats where Mr Kennedy lived.

Duggan and a number of other youths had been congregating outside and Mr Kennedy went to speak to the group.

This resulted in a verbal altercation and the victim ended up chasing Duggan down a footpath. However Duggan stopped during the chase, pulled out the shotgun and fired it at the victim.

The shotgun was later found wrapped in clingfilm and hidden in a bush close to another block of flats nearby.

Police said Grimes had provided Duggan with a ‘safe haven’ following the incident.

Det Insp Gary McIntyre, who led the investigation, said: “Fortunately the victim’s mobile phone took the brunt of the shot and, as a result of this, he survived. This is remarkable. Had that phone not been in his pocket at that time he would undoubtedly have died.

“Duggan clearly believed that he was above the law, there was no doubt that his actions that night were to kill the victim, and the jury has agreed with this.”