'Ex-girlfriend ordered shooting' Court hears bullet lodged close to victim's spine.

Byline: BY CHLOE GRIFFITHS Daily Post Staff

A JEALOUS woman ordered a gunman to shoot her former partner days after catching him in bed with a new girlfriend, a court has heard.

It is alleged scorned Clare Schofield, 25, lay in wait for her ex-boyfriend, Raymond Clarke, at the house they used to share.

As he tried to get into the house on Hornbeam Road, Halewood, it is claimed she ordered her co-accused, Karl Bankier, 38, to gun him down from point-bank range.

One bullet passed through Mr Clarke's arm into his side, lodging close to his spine.

Schofield and Bankier deny attempted murder, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

But Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, told a Liverpool Crown Court jury incensed Schofield was trying to kill her former partner after catching him with another woman.

He said: "The two defendants waited together in the darkness with a loaded gun, expecting Raymond Clarke to come to the house.

"It is clear Schofield by now hated Mr Clarke. She was jealous of his new girlfriend and she was no doubt incensed by the contents of his text messages.

"When Mr Clarke approached the patio doors, she told Karl Bankier, in no uncertain terms to shoot Mr Clarke.

"Bankier did his best to oblige, shooting at almost point-blank range."

Mr Baxter told the jury Schofield and Mr Clarke, who have a four-year-old daughter, had split up in January after 10 years together.

On May 7 - five days before the shooting - Mr Clarke was upstairs at their former home with his new girlfriend, Kelly Doyle, when Schofield turned up.

Mr Baxter said she was banging on the door, shouting: "Open the door you dirty b------".

She broke a front window with two stones from the garden, grabbed a carving knife from the kitchen and made her way up to the bedroom, he said.

It is alleged she then attacked the pair with the knife, causing cuts and bruises.

Over the new few days, Mr Baxter said there were numerous text messages, including one from Schofield saying: "You're going to get shot soon".

On May 12, Mr Clarke texted Schofield saying he was coming to the house to collect clothing.

When he arrived, the property was in darkness and locked.

It is alleged he went round the back and was peering through the glass when he heard Schofield scream: "Shoot him, shoot him".

Schofield, of Windmill Hill, Daresbury, near Runcorn, and Bankier, of Thingwall Lane, Knotty Ash, claimed they had been sleeping upstairs when Bankier heard noises.

Bankier told police he discovered a hooded gunman downstairs and the pair had struggled, with a shot going off.