A drug dealer fired gunshots at a motorhome and parked cars in Cardiff after he was stabbed in the hand with a machete, a court has heard.

Alfie Larkin, 23, is alleged to have shot at an address in an "act of revenge" following an incident where his car was driven into and he was attacked with a machete.

Following the incident in Rumney, the gun was cemented inside a plant pot by Rachel Crothers, an alleged accomplice of the defendant, and had to be subjected to an X-Ray in hospital for police to discover it.

Larkin, a student from London who attended a computer science course at Cardiff Metropolitan University, has admitted his involvement in drug dealing and supplied "party drugs" such as MDMA, ketamine and cocaine, to students in the Cardiff area.

Speaking at a trial at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Susan Ferrier said: "This defendant far from being a foot soldier, is a hardened violent drug dealer who relocated to Cardiff, a large student community, to live the flash life of fast cars and clothing.

"He's not the easy scapegoat he claims to be but a dangerous man capable of arming himself with a gun and shooting it in a public place."

The defendant, of HMP Cardiff, denies possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear and violence and possession of a firearm.

The trial, which began on September 28, heard "several loud bangs" were heard outside of an address in Greenway Road on the night of the shooting at around 10pm on January 12 2019.

Bullet holes were later found in the windscreen of a motorhome parked outside the address, as well some of the vehicles parked in the driveway. Police later discovered 9mm cartridge casings and ammunition at the scene.

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A Volkswagen Passat was caught on camera driving away from the scene at around 10pm, a vehicle which was found to be insured to Larkin who removed it from his insurance policy at 10.48pm.

The defendant was arrested on January 19, 2019, and two iPhones were seized for analysis. Messages on the phone related to drug dealing were discovered and Larkin was arrested again after arriving back from a holiday in Iceland on February 27, 2019.

Further analysis of the phone revealed it was registered to an address in Wyeverne Road, Cathays, where then student teacher Rachel Crothers lived.

She was a friend of Larkin's, had been in frequent contact with him and visited him while he was on remand in prison. Conversations between the two were recorded covertly.

During one conversation, Ms Crothers spoke in code and referred to "Gloria" and "Big Becky", names referring to guns. She told Larkin "Big Becky" "was dead" and she had purchased cement to bury her in a plant pot.

In other recorded conversations, Larkin was recorded saying to his mother in Turkish: "Basically, the man has stabbed me. I went to his house with a gun and shot".

A warrant was obtained for Ms Crothers' address on April 2, 2019, and a plant pot was seized and was found to contain a handgun cased in cement. The gun was a Grand Power P380 pistol with 9mm bullets the same used in the Greenway Road shooting.

Ms Crothers, who has pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and perverting the course of justice, said she discovered the gun in a spare room at her house which was used by Larkin, wrapped in a yellow duster type cloth. She then decided to dispose of it.

She asked Larkin on a prison visit about the shooting, and she claims he said he had shot at the caravan to "scare" its owner.

She claimed the defendant told her it belonged to people who had attacked him with a machete in an attack where his gold BMW car was driven into, and he was set upon by people he described as "gypsies" and "big drug dealers".

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Larkin said he moved to Cardiff in 2017 having earned a scholarship to study at Cardiff Metropolitan University through the Longford Trust, having served nine months in a young offenders' institute.

He said he began drug dealing for two men named "Sully" and "Ash" after running out of funds in his second year, and would work until 2am or 3am running a "party drug" phone line and supplied cocaine, ketamine and MDMA. He was also given a car and two phones to carry out his job.

The defendant said: "I kind of got caught up in the game of fast money."

Defence barrister David Taylor asked Larkin about his lifestyle and referred to him driving a gold BMW and wearing a fake Rolex.

Larkin added: "I can see now I was a muppet but at the time I thought I was cool."

Describing the incident in which he was stabbed, the defendant said he had been on a double date with a friend and was driving home at 2am when his car was driven into in Cyncoed.

He said: "I got out and ran away and managed to get away. My car was completely written off. They got [his friend], I was hiding between bins and I stupidly ran back to help him. I ran back and bundled into them. One of them fell over and they turned their attention to me. They stabbed me, hit me with a hammer and I was run over by a van."

When asked why he believed he was targeted, Larkin said he believed the attackers were trying to steal his fake Rolex after he had posted about it on social media.

Mr Taylor asked him about the claims of Ms Crothers that he said he had been attacked by "gypsies".

He replied: "That's a lie."

Larkin also claimed Ms Crothers had been in possession of the Grand Power pistol, and had been keeping it for Sullly, who he claimed was in a relationship with Ms Crothers.

He said: "I had gone round to give her this bag of cocaine. It came to the end of the meeting and she said with a mischievous look on her face 'have you ever seen a gun'. I said 'no' and she got out the small black handgun. I said 'is that fake' and she was like 'no it's not' with a cheeky grin on her face. I had it on my lap. She said Sully and Ash had been keeping it there.

"I told her to get rid of these guns. I told her to get away from all this and she said 'this is the best place for a gun to be, no one would look here'.

"She enjoyed the thrill of meddling in Sully's affairs. I looked at the gun, touched it and gave it back to her saying 'you shouldn't have this in the house'."

Mr Taylor asked the defendant if he was involved in the Greenway Road shooting, to which he responded: "No."

On the night of the shooting, Larkin claimed he had been driving around Cardiff supplying drugs with two other drug dealers and was not using the Passat, which he described as a "group car".

He said he found out about the shooting at around 10.30pm and said he was told: "Ash had shot someone and the Scousers had been involved".

When asked about conversations with his mother following his arrest, Larkin claimed his comments were made in his second language Turkish and had been "taken out of context" while trying to explain the police's case against him.

He told the court he had been made a "convenient scapegoat" for the shootings and had no involvement whatsoever.

In cross-examination, Ms Ferrier said: "The drug dealing world has its attractions; fast cars, fancy badged labelled clothing, trainers that are extremely expensive and being able to flash the cash a bit and show off because as a drug dealer there are lots of profits to be made. The disadvantage is different areas, different phone lines and different dealers.

"You've heard of turf wars, nobody wants another person on their patch when there is lots of money to be made."

"You talked about the time you were stabbed. You think that pursuit was about your fake Rolex?"

Larkin said: "Yes and I still believe that."

Ms Ferrier added: "Was that attack because you had been trespassing on someone else's territory?”

The defendant replied: "Not that I know of."

The prosecutor said: "Why didn't you want to support an investigation, to the people who did this you?

"Was it because you wanted to deal with this yourself in a drug dealer way, get a gun and shoot at the address. That's what you did isn't it?

"You were the person who had the gun, made a shot as an act of a revenge in a drugs turf war."

Larkin said: "No."

The trial continues.