CHURCHGOER Kenneth Mackintosh was killed by two shotgun blasts as he

lay wounded and helpless during the Tyneside shootings tragedy, an

inquest heard yesterday.

Fourteen others were injured during the shootings at Monkseaton,

Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, on Sunday.

Normally Mr Mackintosh, 41, a manager with British Telecom, drove to

his home in Uplands, Monkseaton, after attending the local Methodist

church service.

However, on this occasion he walked to deliver church leaflets, while

his wife Pam, 40, returned by car.

When the inquest opened at Blyth, Northumberland, yesterday,

post-mortem examination evidence from Home Office pathologist Dr Harvey

McTaggart indicated that Mr Mackintosh was first disabled by two shots

fired from some distance as he walked along Windsor Road, Monkseaton.

He was then fired on at close-range, said the pathologist's report,

read by Deputy North Tyneside Coroner Eric Armstrong.

Mr Mackintosh died from the rupture of his heart and aorta, caused by

shotgun wounds. Either of the shots could have caused his death.

Adjourning the inquest, Mr Armstrong said he had been advised that

Robert James Sartin had appeared before North Shields Magistrates

charged with murdering Mr Mackintosh.

Sartin, a 22-year-old civil servant, of Wentworth Gardens, Whitley

Bay, is due to make his next court appearance on May 30.

A funeral service for Mr Mackintosh will be held today at Monkseaton

Methodist Church, where he was a regular worshipper, followed by

cremation at Whitley Bay.

Three Monkseaton people wounded in the shootings were said to be

improving in hospital yesterday.

Mr Brian Thoms, 38, of Hillfield, is in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle,

with chest, arm, leg, and back injuries.

Mrs Jean Miller, 69, of Brantwood Avenue, who has abdomen and groin

injuries, and Mr Peter Burgon, 41, of Westfield Avenue, who suffered arm

and chest wounds, are both in North Tyneside General Hospital.