ONE of the men charged with the murder of Aaron Pill has told the court he suffers from PTSD after being kidnapped by travellers and having a shotgun put in his face.

Under questioning from his defence barrister Joanna Martin QC, Liam Bastow, 27 from Mylor Bridge said the kidnappers had put a shotgun in his face and mouth and threatened to blow his head off.

He told Truro Crown Court that the incident had happened when he had lived in Kent and he had been driven around for hours and beaten.

“I was kidnapped by people to sell drugs for them” he said. “When I refused, they told me I owed them money for drugs. I was kidnapped on the way back from work.

He added: “They beat me, then he lost his temper and put a shotgun in my mouth. He told me he was going to blow my head off. I was absolutely terrified.”

Liam Bastow is jointly charged with Kane Coggin with murdering Mr Pill at his home in Tresawle Road, Falmouth on May 4 this year.

Coggin, 27, of Meadowbank, Mylor Bridge and Liam Bastow, 24, of Avalon Close, Mylor Bridge have admitted manslaughter but deny murder.

He told the court he did not go Mr Pill’s house intending to kill him only to rob him of his cannabis. He said he knew there was CCTV but wasn’t worried about it.

“We were meant to be stealing someone’s weed,” he said. “I didn’t think he’d report it to the police because drug dealers are not going to phone up police and say: ‘Somebody’s just robbed me of all my weed’.”

He said there was “no way” he had intended to kill Mr Pill or to violently assault him. He was just going to steal his weed.

He said he’d moved to Cornwall in 2016 after his mum got a house in Newquay and he had become her carer. He had met Brea Coggin and they had moved in together in Mylor Bridge and had a baby together.

He said he suffered from severe PTSD and contacted Cornwall Community Health Team but was told there was nothing they could do without a specialist, which they didn’t have. He said he had constant nightmares and insomnia.

He said Mr Pill supplied him with cannabis and once had asked him to find someone to sell some drugs for him. Mr Pill had given them to Bastow who gave some to his mum and smoked the rest himself. The drugs were worth around £400.

He’d worked for Mr Pill cleaning ‘micro green trays’ to pay off his debt but when the lockdown happened he wouldn’t go round there in fear of passing Covid onto his daughter.

He said before that he had a good relationship with Mr Pill, but he said on the day of the attack he’d had a long threatening telephone conversation with Mr Pill over the debt. Followed by threatening text messages.

It was after that, that he suggested to Coggin, his girlfriend’s brother, that they rob Mr Pill. He said there was never any discussion about taking a knife and he didn’t know that Coggin had taken one.

He claimed he couldn’t remember much about what had happened because of his PTSD but said watching the CCTV made him feel sick.

“I hate it makes me feel sick,” he said “It makes me feel useless, just really don’t like it. He doesn’t deserve that.”

Under cross examination from the prosecution he denied that he had lied about his PTSD and about moving Mr Pill out of the way to get outside.

He said afterward he went home, got into bed and went to sleep.

He said he didn’t know about Mr Pill’s death until he was arrested on May 6.

The trial continues.