A prosecution witness facing deportation yesterday denied being promised he would be allowed to stay in Britain if he helped police in the Sharon Beshenivsky case.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Francois Baron had been served with a notice of removal from the UK by an immigration officer.

Mr Baron told the court he was in panic and did not understand after the interview with the immigration officer before he was arrested by police in February this year.

Benjamin Nolan QC, representing Faisal Razzaq, said the immigration officer wanted to speak to Mr Baron about how he had arrived in the UK from the Seychelles and what information he had given.

Mr Nolan said the immigration officer served Mr Baron with a notice of liability to removal under the Immigration Act as an overstaying immigrant. The court heard Mr Baron told the officer he would love to stay in this country.

Mr Nolan said that he had been given a document by the prosecution which said that while Mr Baron was being assessed for inclusion in the witness support service on February 6 this year he had indicated to a West Yorkshire Police officer that he had been promised that if he helped he would be allowed to stay in the UK.

Mr Nolan asked: "Did you say to a police officer that you had been promised if you helped you will be allowed to stay."

"No," replied Mr Baron.

Mr Nolan added: "Were you promised that if you helped you would be allowed to stay in the UK?"

Mr Baron again replied: "No."

Mr Baron agreed that he had phoned his former girlfriend on November 18 or the early hours of November 19, hours after the shooting of PC Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn.

Mr Nolan asked: "In that conversation did you say to her maybe there will be a reward if I go to the police and to tell them what I know, or maybe they can deal with my immigration status if I tell them'."

Mr Baron said he did not remember saying that.

And he denied taking an interest in newspaper coverage of the shooting of PC Beshenivsky.

Questioned by Mr Nolan, Mr Baron agreed he had felt a chill down his spine when he was arrested on suspicion of murder. "I was shocked and surprised," he added.

The court heard Mr Baron was interviewed 11 times and a decision was then taken to release him without charge.

Asked by Mr Nolan if that came as a great relief, he replied: "Not really."

Mr Nolan said he had been given information by the prosecution that Mr Baron had been found somewhere to live rent free, had been provided with household appliances, his utility bills had been paid for and he had been paid a welfare allowance of £100 a week.

Mr Nolan suggested that on the Friday night and early on Saturday morning he had discussed with Faisal Razzaq what had happened in Bradford earlier that day.

He said: "You both thought you were in a lot of trouble. You spoke about nothing else but what had happened in Bradford during the day. In particular you told Faisal Razzaq the sub machine gun had been brought to Leeds by Tattoo Man. You were telling Faisal Razzaq that gun had been stored in a cupboard in your room."

Mr Baron replied: "There was no gun in my room."

Mr Baron insisted he was not mistaken when he said that he had seen Raza Ul-Haq Aslam cleaning a gun in a room at the house in Harehills Lane on the day of the shooting.

Cross examined by Mukhtar Hussain QC, for Aslam, he maintained he had seen Aslam, who he knew as Haq, on the Friday morning.

Mr Hussain suggested that Haq has not been cleaning any gun, but Mr Baron replied: "He was cleaning a gun."

He also insisted Aslam had taken the guns across the road from Harehills Lane to another Caradon Estates asylum seeker's house in Roundhay Place.

He told the court: "I saw him cleaning the gun and I saw him taking the guns across the road."

Mr Baron said that by the weekend he knew a policewoman had been shot dead in a robbery and another policewoman had been injured.

Mr Hussain asked: "Did you tell the police what you knew and had seen happen in Harehills Lane?"

Mr Baron said: "No."

"Did you mention a single word?" said Mr Hussain.

"No," replied Mr Baron.

Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, of Small Heath, Birmingham, Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, of Kentish Town, London, and brothers Faisal Razzaq, 25, and Hassan Razzaq, 26, both of Forest Gate, London, plead not guilty to PC Sharon Beshenivsky's murder.

Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, of London, admits murder and robbery but denies the attempted murder of PC Teresa Milburn. He has also pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a prohibited weapon and two charges of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Aslam and the Razzaq brothers deny robbery but Jamma has admitted that charge. Aslam, the Razzaq brothers and Jamma also plead not guilty to firearms offences.

The trial continues.

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