An odd job man accused of gun smuggling branded the man he says ensnared him in the plot a “scumbag” when he gave evidence at Bradford Crown Court today.

Damian Waite said he was an innocent man who had not imagined there could be anything criminal about signing for a parcel.

Waite, 25, is on trial with six others for alleged involvement in a transatlantic ring sending Glock pistols to Bradford and Leeds in postal packages. All deny conspiracy to import firearms.

Waite told the jury he suffered memory loss after needing brain surgery following an unprovoked attack with a golf club some years ago.

Last year, he was doing odd jobs to save up for a vet bill for his pet dog.

Waite said Mudasser Iqbal asked him to sign for a parcel at an address in Haycliffe Lane, Little Horton, Bradford.

“I have been asked to do loads of odd jobs over the years,” he said. “I thought it was a straight-forward, simple, odd job.”

Waite said of Iqbal, who has pleaded guilty to possessing firearms with intent to endanger life: “He is a scumbag, doing all this to me. I have been waiting to be stood up here to finally have my say.”

He said he had never seen a real gun until a police officer brought one into court on Tuesday.

The jury has been told that pistols in parcels were posted in pieces from Houston, Texas, to Bradford and Leeds.

They were concealed in hollowed-out electrical equipment and allegedly sent to a network of receivers.

On trial with Waite are: Shauna Kilkenny, 19, and her mother Andrea Burton, 33, both of Haycliffe Lane, Little Horton, Bradford; Shazia Hussain, of Pannal Street, Great Horton, Bradford; Raees Khan, 33, of Folkestone Street, Bradford Moor, Bradford; Akbar Sultan, 23, of Baring Avenue, Bradford Moor and Michelle Cheung, 19, of Adel, Leeds.

Cheung, a business management student, said she innocently received three parcels at her home. They contained a computer mouse, soldering iron and paper shredder.

She said she was confused and shocked when she was arrested and would have told the police if she thought the packages continued firearms.

Hussain said she believed the packages were household stuff bought on Ebay. She was told she could keep some of the items she signed for.

Of her arrest, she said: “I was shocked and scared and really shaken.”

The trial continues.