A £100 hitman missed his target and gunned down the wrong man by mistake, the Old Bailey heard.

Instead of ambushing security manager Dougie Burns, Paul Jones got the wrong address and allegedly fired at Mr Burns' next-door neighbour, Ernest Broom.

Mr Broom was blasted in the stomach with a sawn-off shotgun.

Doctors managed to save his life but the hit left him with 250 perforations in his bowel.

Andrew Munday QC, prosecuting, said Jones, 41, of Glen View, East Grinstead, was paid £100 and given a second-hand Ford Granada to kill Mr Burns by his business rival Alec Bristow, in November 1999.

The court heard how Mr Broom, an "innocent and harmless man", was alerted to Jones hiding outside his house in Hill Crescent, Worcester Park, Surrey, when his wife spotted him.

Mr Munday told the court: "Mr Broom, who had a knife in his hand because he had been decorating, then came out and saw the man retreating.

"He challenged him as to what he was doing there and then decided to investigate further.

"That decision is one he now very much regrets.

"He pursued the man and saw that he appeared to be limping. The chase went along an alleyway, round a corner and into another alleyway.

"At this point the defendant stopped, turned, crouched and produced from his trouser leg a sawn-off shotgun.

"He levelled it, pointed it at Mr Broom's stomach and without any word of warning pulled the trigger.

"The whole load of shot from the single cartridge of the 12-bore shotgun travelled straight into the stomach of Mr Broom.

"The man then ran off, no longer incumbent by what it was that had caused him to have difficulty running.

"But the man lying in wait, who now sits in the dock, had got the wrong address."

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Broom, 57, told the court: "He just shot me and left me there. He didn't even see if I was all right.

"He never gave me a chance. He never said a word. If I had known he had a gun, I would have just backed off."

Mr Broom, who told the jury he had been a fit man, said he was now an invalid.

Mr Munday said: "It's an amazing situation that one man would agree, for a Ford Granada and £100, to kill another.

"You would have thought that life had a higher price. Sadly, it does not."

Jones denies conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and a firearms offence.

The trial continues.