A BRADFORD taxi driver was executed in cold blood when he was gunned down after a minor road rage incident, a jury heard today.

Ricardo Linton, 45, of no fixed address, pleads not guilty to murdering Mohammed Basharat and attempting to murder Jamshad Khan almost 20 years ago.

Prosecutor Richard Wright QC told Bradford Crown Court that Mr Basharat, 33, a driver with Little Horton Private Hire, was shot twice in the taxi office off Park Lane in Bradford.

He was struck by two bullets, in the head and the mouth, and died where he lay, the jury was told.

Mr Wright said the murder and the attempted murder happened at 8.20pm on October 20, 2001.

A masked man in a green balaclava walked into the taxi office with a revolver, pointed it at Mr Basharat and pulled the trigger.

Mr Basharat sustained “a devastating and inevitably fatal head injury,” Mr Wright said.

But the masked man was not yet finished, the jury was told.

He turned his weapon on another taxi driver, Jamshad “Jimmy” Khan, and pulled the trigger but the gun failed.

The man then turned and left the taxi office.

Mr Wright said at least four shots were fired, two of which had found their mark.

It was alleged to be a targeted attack after an incident of road rage the previous day.

Mr Wright said the “minor and inconsequential” incident on Park Lane, Bradford, involved Mr Basharat and the driver of a white Renault Clio.

Mr Basharat was driving his taxi when the Renault approached from the opposite direction. The jury heard that it was “badly driven” and Mr Basharat had to stop his vehicle.

Both drivers got out and a scuffle ensued.

“The fight was something and nothing,” Mr Wright said. But the man who was driving the Clio came off worse. He ran away abandoning the car in the middle of the road.

Before he left the scene, he threatened to kill Mr Basharat and he meant every word, Mr Wright said.

“He was willing to use a firearm to exact revenge and to execute a man in cold blood,” he told the court.

“The gunman was a man with a short temper who could not stand coming off second best,” it was alleged.

Mr Wright said Mr Khan was also targeted because the gunman thought he could recognise him.

It is alleged that Linton was the gunman who shot Mr Basharat and tried to kill Mr Khan.

The trial continues.