Walsall man denies helping accused Wolverhampton gunman to apply for passport
Alleged double murderer was arrested applying for fake passport after Wolverhampton shooting
A man on trial for allegedly helping a suspected gunman to apply for a passport told jurors he was applying for travel documents to attend a wedding abroad.
Mohammed Maneer Khan, 39, is accused killing Duaine Mills and Syed Zain Ali, who died of head injuries after being shot at in Whitmore Reans in September 19 last year. He is also accused of the attempted murder of Sahil Idrees who was sitting inside a silver Audi A4 with the victims.
Khan’s co-defendants Samir Patel, aged 43, of St Catharine’s Close, Walsall, and Yaseen Patel, aged 35, of Bromford Way, Washwood Heath, Birmingham, are also on trial accused of helping him to obtain a false passport using Samir’s details after the alleged shootings.
Giving evidence on the witness stand Samir Patel denied that he had any knowledge of the alleged murders or of any attempt to supply Khan with a passport in someone else’s name.
Samir Patel told Wolverhampton Crown Court that his mother was due to travel to India for a cousin’s wedding in December last year and that he hoped to accompany her, and perhaps find a wife for himself. He said he decided to apply for a passport and that a man called ‘Jay’ asked him for his information to assist him with it. He said he had no idea his details were being used by someone else.
His defence barrister Tommy Dominguez asked Patel if he knew Khan, also known as Manny.
Samir Patel replied: “I’d never met Manny before this case. I’d never seen him or spoken to him and I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was wanted in connection with a double murder and I didn’t know about the shooting.
“I never communicated with Yaseen. We’ve got the same surname, but I never knew him. The first I became aware of them was when I was spoken to by the police.”
Mr Dominguez put to the defendant that Yaseen Patel had claimed that Khan paid him for the passport service, and asked Samir Patel if he had been paid any sums by anyone at the time.
Samir Patel replied: “I didn’t pay anybody and nobody paid me any money to help with the application. I didn’t knowingly allow my my name or my family’s details to be used. I didn’t know I was being used to help Manny Khan. That wasn’t my intention.”
The jury previously heard that that £128 had been paid into Samir Patel’s bank account after the deaths and that most of it was used to pay HM Passport Office for documents linked to Khan.
Under cross-examination by Yaseen Patel’s defence barrister Tammy Sher, Samir Patel said he had deposited at the bank counter in Walsall and that while he sometimes allowed friends to us his bank card, he had not given anyone his card that day.
Khan previously admitted an offence of fraud relating to the passport application. Following a police manhunt he was arrested at a passport office in Birmingham on November 20 two months after the incident.
Mr Mills, aged 28, died at the scene and, Mr Ali aged 32, succumbed to his injuries in hospital five days later. Mr Idrees was unharmed.
The prosecution alleges there had been an incident involving some of the parties in the case in Manchester the previous month during which a vehicle was damaged.
Khan, formerly of Great Hampton Street , Whitmore Reans, denies two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Yaseen Patel and Samir Patel, who are unrelated, deny perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.