The final seconds before a man was shot dead by a police firearms officer shortly after leaving Bradford have been relayed to the jury in a gun conspiracy trial.

Yassar Yaqub was killed after three bullets went through the windscreen of the white Audi A4 he was the front seat passenger in, Leeds Crown Court heard today.

Mr Yaqub and the driver of the car, Mohsin Amin, were stopped by the police on the M62 slip road at junction 24, Ainley Top, near Huddersfield, at 6.05pm on January 2, 2017.

The Audi was travelling in convoy with a white VW Scirocco containing Rexhino Arapaj and David Butlin, the court has heard.

Minutes earlier, the vehicles were parked near the Café de Akbar in Leeds Road, Bradford, while Amin and Mr Yakub had a meal.

They had been tracked by the police from Huddersfield to Bradford, reaching speeds of over 100mph as they headed along the M62, it is alleged.

A police officer said he had to travel fast to catch up with the vehicles before they went on to Rooley Lane and out of sight.

Amin, 32, of Manchester; Arapaj, 28, of Thornlea Road, Huddersfield, and David Butlin, 39, of Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, all deny conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. They are accused of carrying out the offence with Mr Yaqub, 28, of Crosland Moor, Huddersfield.

Butlin also pleads not guilty to having a push dagger as an offensive weapon.

Today, the trial heard from ‘Officer G’, a detective constable in West Yorkshire Police.

On the day of the shooting, he was keeping observation with colleagues in Lindley Moor Road in the Huddersfield area. At 4.02pm he saw a white Audi saloon with one occupant.

Speaking from behind a curtained screen, Officer G said that at 4.15pm he saw a white Volkswagen Scirocco park directly in front of the Audi. Mr Yaqub got out of the Scirocco and into the front seat passenger side of the Audi. After ten minutes, both cars set off.

Mohsin Amin was driving the Audi, Officer G told the court. The cars headed for the A643 at speed.

“They were travelling fast...in a progressive manner,” the officer said.

Both passed through a red light on the roundabout leading to the M62. They went on to the eastbound junction 24 of the motorway and moved straight into the offside lane, he told the court.

They were doing more than 100mph before travelling on to Rooley Lane and out of his sight, Officer G told the court.

At 5.55pm, he saw both vehicles heading out of Bradford city centre with the Audi again in front.

They went on the M62 westbound at Junction 26 (Chain Bar) and headed towards Huddersfield. He did not see, but he was aware they had been stopped by the police at 6.05pm.

The trial heard that the firearms officer who shot dead Yassar Yaqub discharged three shots because he believed his life, and the lives of his colleagues, were in imminent danger. 

A statement read to the court from ‘Victor 39’ said he was a counter-terrorist specified firearms officer with West Yorkshire Police.

Victor 39 said the mobile armed support surveillance team followed the Audi and the Scirocco from Bradford after four males came out of Cafe de Akbar on Leeds Road.

The four men shook hands and the vehicles set off in convoy to the M62 westbound. When they exited at Junction 24, the order was given to slow down the traffic to make the situation safer for the public and to stop the two cars “breaking out” when they were stopped.

Victor 39 said he radioed “Strike, strike, strike” to his colleagues. He manoeuvred his Carbine gun to point out of the window and illuminated the LED torch attached to the weapon.

“I pointed my firearm directly at the occupants of the Audi,” he stated.

He repeatedly shouted: “Armed police. Show your hands.”

The driver immediately did so, but the front seat passenger crouched down and leaned towards the driver.

“He was actively moving as I as challenging him. He ignored the instruction to show his hands.”

The officer said the man made to bring up his hand over the threshold of the dashboard.

“I immediately saw the top of a handgun. I was under no doubt that he was holding a handgun as he brought it up from the direction of the footwell,” he stated.

He saw the dark coloured grip of the gun as the man started to lift it in his direction.

“It was my honestly held belief that my life, and that of my colleagues, was in imminent danger,” he said.

He fired three shots at the man because it was “absolutely necessary to stop the lethal threat.”

After the third shot the man's head snapped towards him and his hands went out of view.

He thought he was “unconscious or deceased.”

His colleagues smashed the Audi window and the male was covered by a firearm and challenged.

Victor 39 said he put his Carbine down and called for urgent medical help, while other officers tended to the injured man.

After he had fired the three shots, he saw a handgun in the footwell of the Audi where the man had been crouching. The officer said all his challenges were ignored by the man he shot.

On Monday, the trial was adjourned after the jury asked why the four men were under surveillance.

This morning, prosecutor Peter Moulson QC, told the jury the surveillance was being conducted as part of a police operation known as Operation Phillview. The panel were informed that Yassar Yaqub was a subject of this operation. The three defendants were not subject to surveillance.

Earlier, the trial heard how Mr Yaqub and the three defendants were at Cedar Court Hotel at Ainley Top before driving to Cafe de Akbar.

Mr Moulson QC said Mr Yaqub and Amin went into the cafe, while Arapaj and Butlin parked on Albert Place.

The jury was told the pair dined in the cafe for over an hour with Mohammed Nisar Khan and Kashif Tahir.

CCTV footage of Mr Yaqub and Amin in the café was played in the courtroom, along with footage showing the Audi and the Scirocco driving on the streets outside.

The jury has been told that a Russian Baikal pistol, fully operational and loaded, was found in the front of the Audi.

Crime scene investigator with West Yorkshire Police, John Hartley, told the court he attended the scene of the shooting the following day. He recovered a silencer, a plastic bag containing seven cartridges and a number of phones.

The trial continues.