'I'm going to die' - shooting victim's last words to mother

Paula Platts described how she was woken late at night by a knock on her door in the St Ann's area of Nottingham to be told that her 14-year-old daughter, Danielle Beccan, had been shot on her way home from the city's annual Goose Fair.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Danielle was the victim of a random shooting by members of the Waterfront Gang, a group from another part of the city involved in a turf war with rivals from St Ann's.

Danielle told her mother "I'm going to die" moments after she had been shot from a car by a man who then allegedly made a "W" symbol with his hands to indicate his gang loyalty. Despite her mother's attempts to keep her daughter conscious, Danielle died during surgery hours after the shooting at 12.30am on 9 October last year.

The prosecution said the teenager was the innocent victim of 23-year-old Junior Andrews, who is alleged to have fired the fatal shots, and Mark Kelly, 20, who was driving the gold Citroën Xsara. Both men deny murder.

In a statement read to the court, Mrs Platts said she was brought to an alley where her daughter was lying on the floor.

Danielle, who had been in "high spirits" with a group of friends but was not misbehaving, was found by her mother with her prized trainers beside her. They had been removed from her feet at her own request.

Mrs Platts said: "I knelt down and spoke to her, she was conscious. I stroked her hair. She recognised me straight away and said to me, 'I'm going to die'. I told her over and over, 'you're not going to die'. I could see she had a wound to her stomach. I told her it was a flesh wound and that she would be OK ... I was just trying to keep her conscious because I was convinced if she became unconscious she might never wake up."

Peter Joyce QC, for the prosecution, said both men left the city hours after the killing - Mr Kelly to south London, and Mr Andrews to Aberdeen. He said they concocted a story that Mr Kelly's car had been used in the shooting but they were not involved. The trial continues.