A MAN accused of murder said he nearly “passed out” when he saw a murder investigation had been launched following the death of a man he’d had an altercation with.

Paul Ackroyd, 37, is alleged to have died in a sustained assault and dragged dying into the street.

The trial began two weeks ago, with three men - Alex Bates, 19, of Eastfield Gardens, Holme Wood, Bradford; Rashpal Singh Gill, 40, of Leeds Road, Bradford; and Mohammed Jawaid Khan, 53, of Leylands Lane, Heaton, Bradford - denying the murder of Mr Ackroyd in the early hours of February 23, 2019

Kirsty Rushworth, 32, of Walker Avenue, Lidget Green, Bradford, denies assisting an offender by removing Mr Ackroyd’s body from a flat at 10 Jinnah Court, Manningham, Bradford. Gill and Khan also deny that charge.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court was told that Bates and Khan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and Gill has admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine. The jury previously heard Bates was dealing drugs from the Jinnah Court flat and there had been altercation when Mr Ackroyd, brought there by Gill, known as Raj, refused to pay and went on a “mad one”.

Bates said he picked up a metal implement and “out of desperation and sheer panic” reached to grab it and swung it once, causing Mr Ackroyd to become “dazed”, before staggering back and hitting a table.

He told the jury that he didn’t know what injury he had caused to Mr Ackroyd with the metal implement, described yesterday in court as a ‘skewer’, and that he had not caused any further violence to him.

Peter Moulson QC, prosecuting the case, said there were 11 sites of impact around Mr Ackroyd’s head and neck area and asked Bates if he could explain how others, aside from that of the skewer and possibly those from the table and the floor, occurred. Bates said he didn’t know and did not use any further violence against Mr Ackroyd.

He said he had no knowledge of a hammer inside a radiator, didn’t know of any weapons, but had been put in that flat by drug dealers and there’d been no problems except for that night.

When asked if he had tried to rob Mr Ackroyd, using the skewer to do that, Bates said that was not the case.

He told the court that he had not helped in moving Mr Ackroyd outside, but Rushworth and Khan had been doing so and he was still semi-conscious.

When it was put to him that his DNA was on Mr Ackroyd’s socks because he had dragged him out feet first, Bates said it was not.

He said he may have moved his leg out of the way as he left the flat.

He told the jury he did not think it was a murder scene and had not called 999 as he did not want his phone traced to the emergency services, because he was dealing drugs there every day.

The court heard he left the scene in a taxi and Bates said he made a number of calls to Khan to see what was happening and was told he and Rushworth had taken him outside and Rushworth had called for an ambulance.

He said he never thought Mr Ackroyd was going to die and thought he was going to shake it off, but then read in the Telegraph & Argus a murder investigation had been launched and nearly “passed out”.

He was later arrested at a petrol station.

The trial continues.