A MAN on trial for murder was “just chilling” on his phone before he got caught up in a fatal collision and swept along by events, a jury heard on Thursday.

Long distance lorry driver, Tony Grant, was the front seat passenger in the Kia Sedona that struck and fatally injured Amriz Iqbal in Sandford Road, Bradford Moor, on October 3.

But his barrister, Timothy Raggatt QC, told the jury in his closing speech at Bradford Crown Court that his client was “swept along” by events that day and did not plan, participate in, or encourage them.

Grant, 39, of Queens Road, Bradford, and Mohammed Nisar Khan, 41, of Holme Lane, Tong, Bradford, deny murdering Mr Iqbal. Khan pleads not guilty to attempting to murder Adnan Ahmed as he crossed the road with Mr Iqbal, who was known as Major.

Mr Iqbal, 40, a father of three, of Curzon Road, Bradford Moor, sustained an unsurvivable head injury when he was flung in the air by the silver Kia Sedona shortly after 1pm.

Mr Ahmed, 32, was treated in hospital for injuries including a dislocated shoulder.

Khan, known as Meggy, and Grant, known as Granty, also deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, along with a third defendant, Salman Ismail, 31, of Hollin Road, Shipley, Bradford.

Mr Raggatt said the jury had heard from only one witness at the scene of the fatal event and seen “limited CCTV footage.”

“It is from a considerable distance and you can’t see anything in the way of detail,” Mr Raggatt said.

There was no way to make out that the figures emerging from the Kia Sedona after the two men were knocked down were wearing masks or carrying weapons.

The single eye witness to give evidence said one man wore a patterned balaclava and carried what looked like a crowbar.

Mr Raggatt said Grant thought he was the figure seen standing and looking at the scene before getting back into the vehicle.

“He doesn’t do anything. That’s the high watermark of the prosecution case,” he stated.

There was no evidence of him giving even a gesture of encouragement.

Mr Raggatt said Grant was on the internet on his phone shortly before the collision.

He was being driven around in the Kia Sedona “just chilling.”

Mr Raggatt told the jury Grant had no motive to wish to harm Mr Iqbal.

“There’s no evidence that he had the slightest idea who the deceased was or that he had ever seen him before in his life,” he said.

He continued: “There’s not a shred of evidence that Tony Grant would even have recognised Mr Iqbal if he was sitting next to him.”

There was no evidence of a quarrel or any animosity.

Before the fatal incident, Grant had stood right next to the CCTV camera at the petrol station when he refuelled the Kia Sedona.

“He might as well have waved and gone ‘Hello Mum’,” Mr Raggatt said.

The jury was told that being present at the scene of a criminal offence, however dreadful, didn’t prove anything.

“You can stand and watch but it doesn’t make you a criminal,” he said.

“There must be what the law calls participation or encouragement. Failing to help someone who has been the victim of violence may be morally unpleasant, but it isn’t a crime either.”

Mr Raggatt said Grant was “caught up in an appalling dilemma.”

People were gathering at the collision site. They were noisy and may have become angry.

The sledgehammer, baseball bat and two-piece mask found by the police in Grant’s BMW after the event, were not linked in any way to the collision, Mr Raggatt said.

He suggested to the jury: “If you have been involved in this fatal event and you have been driving round in your BMW afterwards, and you are going to take part in a conspiracy to get footage from the garage, what on earth are you doing leaving this stuff in your boot?”

Mr Raggatt said it was “ridiculous” and the items had no sinister implication.

He will resume his speech to the jury on Friday morning.

Rodney Ferm, barrister for Ismail, will then make his closing speech to the jury before the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, begins to sum up the case.