A POLICE officer who dragged his colleague to safety after she was blasted with a sawn-off shotgun told a jury he thought the gunman had come back to kill them both.

PC Suzanne Hudson, 33, was peppered through a door at close range in the hand and neck as she and PC Richard Whiteley carried out routine early morning inquiries about a neighbour dispute in Leeds.

James Leslie, 37, denies attempted murder of the 5ft 2in police officer, who is originally from Nelson but now works for West Yorkshire Police.

PC Whiteley, who has been an officer for 12 years, told Leeds Crown Court he helped get PC Hudson to safety after she was shot on the doorstep of Leslie's flat in Cardigan Road, Headingley, at 4.15am on December 4.

He said: "She was not good. She had a big massive injury to her right hand and a massive lump on her neck and her face was peppered and bleeding.

"It was clearly a shotgun. There were a lot shrapnel marks all over her face.

"She was gurgling and I was reassuring her. I was on the radio doing 101 things at once and grabbing her to get her out of there."

PC Whiteley appeared emotional in the witness box as he recalled her struggling.

He said: "I thought she was going to die. She fell over.

"I was doing what I could to reassure her and tell her that things would hopefully be OK.”

It was then that the gunman emerged from bushes 10ft away, PC Whiteley said.

The suspect was carrying a sawn-off shotgun and was tangled up in his bike.

PC Whiteley said: “He said: 'Do you want some more?'

"He brought it (the gun) up to make it quite clear he had it.

"I thought he was going to use it again on us.

"I thought I was going to die.

"My life flashed in front of my eyes.

"I thought Suzie was as well. I thought, he has used it once, he is going to use it again."

The officer recalled begging the gunman to go.

"I pleaded with him, 'leave us alone.”

PC Whiteley said the gunman chuckled as he cycled away, and called them derogatory names.

Proceeding