The widow of a Strood father fatally shot in the street wept as she told a court she never got the chance to say goodbye.

Lafteria Krasniqi said the last time she saw husband Xhem - known as Jim - alive he was asleep on the sofa.

The mother-of-two heard him leave their relatives' home in Hove where they were staying, but never saw him again.

The Albanian couple moved to Britain 10 years ago and were visiting scaffolder Mr Krasniqi's brother Ismail in Hove, East Sussex.

The widow was giving evidence in the trial of Edward Nela, who is accused of murdering her husband – who was also a doorman at the Casino Rooms nightclub in Rochester.

Mrs Krasniqi told Hove Crown Court: "I was in the bedroom putting the children to bed and Xhem was asleep on the sofa.

"Then I heard him getting ready to go out with Ismail and I heard the door slam.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye. There was no arrangement to go out. Normally he would tell me."

She said she had not wanted to visit Brighton that weekend because her daughter was ill.

The family originally planned to return home to Strood on the night of her husband’s fatal injury, but stayed on when it became too late to drive.

Mrs Krasniqi added: "If he wanted to go out with his brother he would go out on any occasion.

"Going out that night would not have been instigated by him."

Later that evening on May 18 last year, Mr Krasniqi was shot in Selbourne Road, Hove. He died of his injuries hours later.

Ismail and nephew Kelmed Murataj were also shot at in the street.

Ballistics expert Khaldoun Kabbani told the court at least three shots had been fired from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

He said Mr Krasniqi would have been standing in the direct line of fire when a bullet struck him at close range in the hip area, leaving through his abdomen.

Another bullet ricocheted from a hard surface – probably the road – and lodged into the wallet of Mr Marataj, damaging banknotes but leaving him unscathed.

Nela denies murder and claims he wrestled the gun in self-defence when the shooting happened.

The trial continues.

Stories you might have missed

Woman, 21, stabbed in back at store

Hit-and-run victim had been jailed for attack on disabled shopper

Three arrests after assault

Kiss me Kent... or how we're inspiring the high street catwalks