A man alleged to have robbed a Bradford taxi driver at knifepoint, told a jury he was asleep in bed at the time.

Timothy Jackson, 25, gave police the name of two men he said had committed the crime, but insisted he was not involved.

Victim Tanveer Hussain picked out Jackson at a video identity parade soon after the robbery.

Bradford Crown Court has heard that Mr Hussain, a driver with Eccleshill Premier Cars, was robbed on the Ravenscliffe estate in the early hours of Saturday, December 14, last year.

The court has heard that his Vauxhall Vectra taxi was called to an address in Roundwood Avenue on the estate at 2.30am and Mr Hussain took three people to a cashpoint machine at the Post Office in Ravenscliffe Avenue.

The woman passenger, Joanne Docherty, got out to use the machine, leaving Anthony Bakes and another man in the car. A fourth person, alleged to be the defendant, approached the driver armed with a knife.

Mr Hussain struggled with the knifeman, during which the taxi driver sustained a cut finger. Bakes got out of the car and punched Mr Hussain in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground, the court heard.

Bakes and the knifeman were then alleged to have searched the taxi. A sat nav and a mobile phone were allegedly stolen.

Jackson, of Falkland Road, Ravenscliffe, pleads not guilty to robbery and possessing an offensive weapon.

Prosecutor Anthony Dunne told the jury it was an agreed fact that Bakes had pleaded guilty to robbing Mr Hussain.

The jury was yesterday shown CCTV footage from the post office of the robbery.

Jackson told the jury that he was asleep at his sister’s house at the time. He said he had not seen the people in the taxi that day.

Asked by his barrister, Alasdair Campbell, if the police had got the right person, Jackson replied: “No.” He said the robbers told him about the robbery the next day.

He said: “I knew who did it. I knew what I’d been told about it.”

But he said he did not tell police when he was first interviewed after his arrest. “I don’t get on with the police, I didn’t want to make their job easier,” he added.

He said he had not been “out and about” that evening.

Mr Campbell said: “It’s alleged you were part of a team, of certainly two people, who robbed a taxi driver, Tanveer Hussain. Did you do that?”

“No,” Jackson replied.

The trial continues.