A FATHER-OF-THREE was today cleared by a jury in 15 minutes of plotting to shoot dead a Bradford drug dealer.

Jurors at Bradford Crown Court quickly decided that Waqar Parvez had no involvement in the attack on Asif Khan on January 6, 2013.

Khan, who is serving four and a half years imprisonment for drugs supplying offences, was shot through the leg as he sat in a blue Ford Focus in Thorn Street, Girlington, Bradford.

Six bullets were fired at him, piercing the driver's door, smashing a window and hitting a rear wheel arch.

The court heard that the masked gunman was dressed from head to toe in black and probably armed with a Glock 9mm pistol.

Mr Parvez, 32, of Higher Downs, Fairweather Green, Bradford, denied conspiracy with others unknown to murder Khan, and an alternative offence of conspiracy to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was accused of persuading Khan to attend a rendezvous point after dark so that he could be shot and killed by someone else.

Mr Parvez said he had served a two year prison sentence for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine but had put his criminal past behind him to focus on his family.

He told the jury that after his release from jail in 2008, he moved away from Girlington and his old associates.

Mr Parvez owed Khan £8,000 from when he was addicted to Class A drugs but he was managing to pay it back.

He said he arranged to meet Khan that night at a house in Duckworth Terrace, Bradford.

He was waiting for him to arrive for his money when Khan rang, shouting and screaming that he had been shot.

Mr Parvez said his family had helped him to pay off all but £2,500 of the debt to Khan.

His barrister, Nick Worsley, asked him: "Did you that night meet him in his car?"

Mr Parvez replied: "No."

Mr Worsley said: "Did you have anything to do with anyone opening fire and shooting at his car?"

Mr Parvez again replied: "No."

Cross-examined by Jonathan Sharp, for the prosecution, Mr Parvez said he knew Khan was a drug dealer in Girlington.

"There's loads of drug dealers just like him. It doesn't mean that everybody is going to get together and shoot him," Mr Parvez said.

"He is selling drugs. There could be people out there wanting to hurt him. I am not his only victim."

Mr Parvez said he did not know which way Khan was coming to the house that night or what car he was driving.

"I did call him on the phone. There's nothing else to it. I didn't call him to that street," he said.