A DRUG dealer accused of gunning down a woman in a back garden has denied showing off a gun to his friends the night before, a court heard.

Billy Johnson and Charles Noble deny shooting Kerry Reeves in the face with a sawn-off shotgun at close range in Abingdon at about 8pm on Tuesday, November 3, last year.

Miss Reeves was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital, but the 26-year-old died from her injuries two days later.

Giving evidence yesterday, Johnson told Oxford Crown Court he had returned to Abingdon the day before the shooting to sell heroin and crack cocaine.

A jury of seven women and five men heard how Johnson and Noble, known as CJ and Dillon, had shown the gun to people at a flat that night.

But 20-year-old Johnson, wearing a grey suit and white shirt with no tie, denied the pair had a gun on them at all.

Paul Keleher QC, defending Johnson, said: "Did you or Dillon have a gun with you on that night."

Johnson added: "No."

The court heard how Miss Reeves and friend Craig Pitts had been armed with baseball bats and were searching for the two dealers when she was shot in the gardens behind Thornhill Walk.

Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls QC told jurors there had been a violent feud between drug dealers Johnson and 21-year-old Noble, and Miss Reeves and Mr Pitts.

He said Johnson had been attacked by Mr Pitts in Abingdon in 2014 and had been going out with Miss Reeves' ex-girlfriend Nicole Blackman.

The court heard how a week before the shooting Mr Pitts was ambushed in his home and stabbed by three masked men armed with a knife and baseball bat.

Rudie Monaghan told the jury how his friend Mr Pitts believed Johnson had been involved in the attack and had gone out looking for him in the days leading up the shooting.

He said Mr Pitts and Miss Reeves had gone with friends to Ms Blackman's home on Friday, October 30 looking for Johnson so they could beat him up.

The jury was also read text and WhatsApp messages from Ms Blackman to Johnson from the day before the attack suggesting she was scared for his safety and wanted the pair to move out of Abingdon together.

One read: "I don't want more s*** to happen and it getting worse here because I have to live here."

Another said: "I mean they all got an issue, like what the f***. They are even hating on me now, I have to move.

"I just need to know you're safe okay."

But Johnson insisted he had nothing to do with the attack on Mr Pitts and was not worried about retribution on his return to the town.

He added: "I knew he was going about saying it could've been me but it wasn't me.

"I thought it was due to the rumours going about, about me getting the blame for the stabbing."

Johnson, of Ripon Court, Corby, Northamptonshire, and Noble, of Kempton Avenue, Northolt, Ealing, both deny murder.

The trial continues.