A MAN on trial for attempted murder repeatedly asked 999 operators if the woman he had stabbed was alive or dead, a court heard today. 

A jury at Bradford Crown Court was played two recordings of the 999 calls that Mohammed Ali made shortly after he carried out the broad daylight attack in Cornwall Road, Manningham.

The 58-year-old, also known as Paul Mennell, has already admitted a charge of wounding the woman with intent to do her grievous bodily harm, but he has denied the attempted murder allegation.

The prosecution allege that Ali, of Sunbridge Road, Bradford, attacked his victim in the street in August 2022 and pushed her into a deep ditch at a nearby building site before stabbing her in the back.

Ali fled the scene of the stabbing after a group of workmen intervened, but he then rang 999 asking whether the woman had survived or not.

Ali, who said he was going to hand himself in, asked one operator: ”Can you tell me if I’ve killed her or not.”

He said he was so sorry and admitted losing his temper.

“Can you tell me if she’s alive or not. I didn’t mean it,” he said.

“I’m going to go away for a long time because I’ve stabbed her.”

In a second 999 call, Ali said he hoped he hadn’t killed her because what he did to her was really bad.

“I love her so much,” Ali told the operator.

He said he couldn’t take it anymore after the complainant “cut him off completely”.

“I thought if I couldn’t have her nobody else could have her,” he added.

Ali admitted that he “lost it” and said: "I just hope she survived. I think she did, but she’s got a really bad stab wound.”

The court heard that Ali hid the serrated bread knife he used in the attack in a pile of gravel and discarded his jacket before he was eventually arrested by police near Tesco’s car park on Canal Road.

During his police interviews, Ali said he had gone out that morning to speak to the complainant about their relationship, but claimed she started swearing at him and hitting him.

Ali claimed they had fallen into the ditch and that he stabbed the complainant once when he lost his temper.

“I don’t know what happened. I just snapped,” he told police.

Ali admitted having feelings of jealousy but said he didn’t know what got into him.

“It’s not attempted murder. I did not go there to harm her whatsoever,” he said.

“I went there to reconcile and speak to her but unfortunately the events took a different line, a different path, and I just lost it and I took the knife out and stabbed her.

“When I saw the wound that shocked me and I thought what the hell have I done.”

The trial continues.