Accused in Dudley taxi boss murder conspiracy trial denies being gunman

The alleged victim and father-of-four, known as Haroon, died after being shot in the head in a drive-by attack in the Queens Cross area of the town on January 31 last year.

Hassan Tasleem is accused of firing the weapon and is among nine defendants standing trial on a charge of conspiracy to murder.

Under cross-examination he told the trial at Leicester Crown Court sitting at Loughborough that he was in the car at the time, but understood that others in the car were going to "smash a window" using "a pick-axe handle".

Tasleem said that he was "drunk" and that another accused man, Gurdeep Sandhu, was driving the car that was caught on closed circuit cameras crawling past the taxi van moments after Mr Zeb parked up and got out.

Giving defence evidence on the witness stand, Hassan Tasleem told the jury that he was not the person who fired a revolver four times from the front passenger seat of a VW Golf shortly after 12.30am, fatally injuring the victim - and that another man who was not involved in the trial was responsible.

Prosecuting barrister Mr James Curtis KC put to him: "You were going to do the shooting from that seat. You needed to be able to shoot those four shots aimed at Mr Zeb from that seat."

Tasleem replied: "No". He also told the jury that could not recall the entire conversation between some of the defendants prior to the Golf setting off and said "I thought we were going to smash windows".

Mr Zeb was shot dead days after Choudhary Akeel Hussain suffered a leg injury when he was struck by a car on January 2, following the Court of Appeal upholding the conviction of a man called Nabeel Choudhary for the murder of Yasir Hussain, 34, in Lower Gornal, in 2018.

The prosecution claims that the 39-year-old was killed as a result of a long-running and escalating feud between two groups of families. Mr Zeb died in hospital from his injuries.

Hassan Tasleem, 24, of Richmond Road; Choudhary Naheim Rashid, 48, of Kingswinford Road; Gurdeep Sandhu, 24; Umar Ali, 21, both of Blowers Green Road; Akarsh Tasleem, 26, of Shaw Road; Choudhary Akeel Hussain, 22, of Brook Street; Mohamad Umar Rafiq, 20, of Gammage Street; Shamraz Ali, 20, of Tanfield Road; and Zaine Hussain, 22, Aston Road, all Dudley, are accused of conspiracy to murder Mr Zeb.

Hassan Tasleem, Rashid, Sandhu and Umar Ali are also accused of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Hassan Tasleem, Sandhu, Akarsh Tasleem, Choudhary Akeel Hussain, Rafiq, Shamraz Ali and Zaine Hussain are also accused of perverting the course of justice.

All deny the allegations. The trial continues.