Minicab driver denies he knew he was helping murdererA MINICAB driver told a jury he had no idea he was delivering £1,000 to a man fleeing justice after murdering his wife.
Javaid Awan said yesterday he was doing a friend a favour when he handed over the cash in two instalments to Bradford killer Danish Irfan outside a chicken takeaway restaurant.
Awan, 33, of Blackburn Road, Ilford, is one of three men on trial at Bradford Crown Court who deny perverting the course of public justice by helping Irfan evade arrest.
Irfan, 22, fled his home in Alford Terrace, Lidget Green, Bradford, on November 3, 2013, after murdering his 21-year-old wife Ridda Zanab.
Within 36 hours he was on a flight to Pakistan from Heathrow Airport travelling on a false passport.
Awan said he had never heard of Irfan at the time and had no idea he had killed his wife.
He told the jury he came to the UK from Pakistan on a student visa in 2004 and was friends with co-defendant Faisal Chaudhary.
Awan said he attained a Master degree in marketing and was working part-time for a removal company at the time.
He said Chaudhary told him a friend's nephew was in London and needed money to visit his ill father in Pakistan.
He collected an envelope containing cash from Chaudhary's home and handed it to the man near Upton Park Underground Station in Green Lane in East London.
Awan said he was told the man was called Ahmed and that he was skinny with a hooded top.
Asked by his barrister, Barry White: "Did anyone tell you this man had murdered his wife?" Awan answered: "No."
He said Chaudhary told him Ahmed needed more money and he gave him £350 out of his own pocket.
No one ever mentioned a false passport and he knew nothing about that.
Chaudhary, 34, of Grantham Road, Ilford, Essex, and Muhammed Qureshi, 39, of Pembroke Avenue, Luton, Bedfordshire, are in the dock with Awan.
Muhammed Qureshi's barrister, Andrew Selby, said he was not giving evidence.
A fourth man, Nouman Qureshi, 33, of Duchywood, Heaton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to the offence before the start of the trial.
The jury has been told that Irfan was persuaded to return to the UK from Pakistan in February last year.
He was convicted at Bradford Crown Court last July of murdering his wife and sentenced to a life term.
The trial continues.
source:
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... _murderer/
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