A former soldier yesterday denied he had anything to do with the shooting of have-a-go hero Tasawar Hussain and told a jury he had never hurt anybody in his life.

Barry Elener, 42, who is accused of murdering the father-of-two, denied taking part in the robbery of a security guard outside Mad-ina Travel in Lumb Lane, Brad-ford, or blasting to death Mr Huss-ain, 36, of Heaton, minutes later.

Elener, giving evidence on the fourth week of his trial at Leeds Crown Court, was asked by def-ence barrister Roger Thomas QC: "Do you have it in you to do something like that?" He replied: "No. I never hurt anybody in my life."

Elener also denied having anything to do with 11 other robberies he is alleged to have committed with his father, Derek Elener, 65, during a ten-year armed crime wave in Bradford.

He told the jury that on the day of the murder, January 27 last year, his father had taken his Volkswagen Jetta car to fix the fan belt. He said he called his father from his home in Fresh-field Gardens, Allerton, Bradford, at about 4.45pm because he needed the car for work the next day.

He said he drove to his father's house in Reevy Road, Buttershaw, but he was not there.

Elener said he called his father just after 7pm and drove to Thornton Road to pick him up.

He told the court: "I asked him why he was walking up Thornton Road. He said 'Something's gone on. I'll talk about it in the morning'. I thought it was strange."

Elener said the next day his father told him the police had cordoned off Jowett Street and would not let him get the car back.

He said his father did not reply when he asked him why the car was there.

He went on: "I heard on the news there had been a robbery and a shooting but I did not think my dad was involved at the time."

Elener said his father then asked him to give him an alibi.

"I said 'Why, what have you done?' He didn't give me an explanation. I knew there was some sort of link there because he knows people who do it."

Elener said he did not agree straightaway to give his father an alibi but then he did agree.

Elener, who said his elder brother Gary was a serving police officer, told the court he had served in the Royal Artillery between 1977 and 1981.

He said he had not used or been trained to use handguns while in the Army.

The prosecution claim that Barry Elener was the gunman and his father the getaway driver in the series of armed robberies, between 1994 and 2003, in which three security guards were shot and wounded and culminating in the murder of Mr Hussain.

Elener pleads not guilty to murdering Mr Hussain, the attempted murder of three security guards, 12 charges of robbery, five of possessing a firearm with intent to danger life, seven of possessing a firearm during the commission of offences and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

His father has pleaded guilty to 28 charges including the murder of Mr Hussain.

The trial continues.