THE shots which killed Arthur Stewart, the Clydebank gunman who

terrorised a tenement last May, were fired as he pointed a loaded

shotgun only a few feet from the face of a police officer.

The bullets which eventually ended Stewart's life came from a Heckler

and Koch semi-automatic carbine held by Constable Archibald McVicar, 36,

of Strathclyde police tactical firearms unit.

PC McVicar yesterday stepped from the witness box at Paisley Sheriff

Court to re-enact for Sheriff Principal Robert Hay the final moments of

Stewart, who advanced on him with a single barrelled, bolt action

shotgun sawn off at barrel and stock.

He told a fatal accident inquiry of the final time Stewart descended

the stairs at 348 Dumbarton Road, Clydebank, where he had been contained

for three and a half hours by armed officers. The tenement housed a

number of families including Stewart's former girlfriend, whom he had

threatened.

Questioned by Mr James Cardle, procurator-fiscal, Constable McVicar

said Stewart had run up and down twice between floors.

''I prepared myself. I took the safety off the Heckler and Koch and

put it at the ready action. He came down again, only this time he came

over to his left, into my sight,'' he said.

Raising the gun in the court, Constable McVicar said Stewart had

lifted the shotgun and aimed it at him.

Mr Cardle: What did you think he was going to do?

PC McVicar: He was going to shoot me.

Mr Cardle: What did you do?

PC McVicar: I shot him.

The constable said he had fired two rapid shots from a range of eight

feet which knocked Stewart backwards. He had not been conscious of the

movements of other officers around him. He left the scene immediately.

He earlier told Mr Cardle of the stream of threats made by Stewart

that he would shoot the police and how, as the armed containment drew to

its conclusion, he heard Stewart ascend the stairs towards two armed

officers, one of whom had stood on broken glass. Two rapid shots, fired

by the police, had followed.

The officer who fired those, Sergeant Keith Webb, 33, a force firearms

instructor and a member of the tactical firearms unit, earlier

demonstrated to the inquiry the actual Heckler and Koch carbine he used.

As they descended the tenement stairs his colleague, also armed, had

trod on broken glass, alerting Stewart. They froze, but Stewart had

heard, he said.

As his colleague shouted: ''Armed police. Stop. Stand still,'' he got

his first sight of Stewart. His colleague shouted: ''Don't point the

gun,'' but Stewart had levelled it straight at his (Sergeant Webb's)

head.

''At that point I believed I was about to be shot. I immediately fired

two shots as I am trained to do,'' he said.

Sergeant Webb said he had the red dot of his sight on Stewart's upper

chest about eight or 10 feet away.

''As far as I was concerned I believed I had hit him. I had never shot

anyone before. I never knew what the reaction would be,'' he said.

Sergeant Webb told the inquiry Stewart had lowered the shotgun and

retreated down the stairs. The two rounds had embedded themselves in an

oak bannister three and a half feet in front of Sergeant Webb.

Both officers told the inquiry that after the shooting they had been

questioned by inquiry officers and suspended from operational firearms

duties, part of force policy until all inquiries into any firearms

incident were complete.

The inquiry continues.