A MOTHER and daughter died after they were gunned down with a double barrelled shotgun.

A jury heard Christine Chambers and her two-year-old daughter Shania were shot at point-blank range at their Braintree home last summer.

Alleged killer David Oakes then tried to kill himself but failed, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

But the court also heard how Oakes later claimed Mrs Chambers had shot her own daughter dead and she had died as he struggled to get the gun from her.

Oakes also claimed Mrs Chambers had shot him during the late night incident at the house in Bartram Avenue South, Braintree.

Oakes denies murdering his former partner and their daughter on June 6 last year.

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