A TEENAGE gun fanatic blasted a Widnes dad with a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun, as he chased him for causing a disturbance at his home.

Miraculously, an iPhone in his tracksuit top pocket bore the brunt of the shot and saved the victim’s life, Chester Crown Court heard on Monday.

Ryan Duggan, aged 19, of Flavell Avenue, Widnes denies attempting to murder 25-year-old Daniel Kennedy.

Police found two phones belonging to Duggan at the scene containing photographs and video clips of him brandishing a large number of weapons.

A firearms expert concluded his photographs, taken in the weeks leading up to the shooting, included a silver revolver and four hand guns which could be genuine firearms.

There were also pictures of a sawn off Argyle single barrelled 12 bore shotgun, two blank firing pistols, a low powered CO2 BB pistol and two soft air guns.

Police also retrieved a video of him playing with bb guns in his bedroom and another of a man firing an unloaded gun in Dundalk Road at 12.21pm on September 14.

Detectives discovered Duggan had created a secret den near his home on the disused St Michael’s golf course, closed since 2004 after arsenic was found in the soil.

One picture showed him in the den holding the very gun used in the shooting on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.

Police found three holes where they believe he hid firearms.

Kim Halsall, prosecuting, said: “It was where he would go to play with  these guns.

“The defendant had an unhealthy interest in guns and retrieved the sawn off shotgun he had previously hidden to confront Mr Kennedy from a distance of 1.5 metres.”

On the night of the shooting, dad-of-two Mr Kennedy had visited his partner, Kayleigh Fox, put their two children to bed and returned to his home in St Michael’s View.

He took his dog out for a walk and found a gang of 10-15 youths smoking cannabis inside the hallway.

The court heard that gangs had been intimidating residents for weeks.

When Mr Kennedy discovered he had no water, he suspected the yobs had turned it off and came down to confront them.

As they hurled abuse at him, he ended up chasing one lad who broke away from the gang.

Mr Kennedy told the jury: “It was pitch black. I got within one metre of him.

“He spun round.

“I saw him holding a big silver thing in his hand.

“There was a flash in front of me. I felt a burning sensation in the bottom of my body.

“It took me off my feet.”

Kim Halsall, prosecuting, said: “Pathologist Dr Brian Rogers said it was fortuitous that Mr Kennedy’s iPhone took the main blast of the shotgun as it prevented the majority of pellets entering the body.

“He concluded that it would only have taken one of these pellets to penetrate a major blood vessel in the region of the abdomen to have caused a fatal internal haemorrhage.

 “His phone saved his life.”

Mr Kennedy underwent surgery and, after four operations, is still receiving treatment.

He added: “I keep having complications because I’ve still got pellets inside me.”

Duggan has pleaded guilty to wounding and possession of a firearm without a certificate.

He denies possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.