A woman told a Court how she watched in shock as a driver was rammed and chased by a man wielding a baseball bat on the night a security guard was beaten to death.

Seven men stand accused of conspiring to murder Qadir Ahmed, 24, of Gordon Street, Keighley, on February 13 last year.

Two women workers at Keighley Leisure Centre told a jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday how some of the events unfolded.

Grace Saxby said she was leaving the premises with a colleague to whom she was giving a lift at about 11pm when she noticed a white car which had been parked outside the leisure centre for some time.

Once Miss Saxby and colleague Clare Leighton got into the car they saw the white car pull out.

"There was a convoy of about five cars," she said. "A red Toyota, a grey-blue Fiesta and another red-coloured car and a Jeep behind us. All of a sudden the white car pulled out and rammed into the blue car. Then the red car rammed into it as well."

She said she was shocked and slowed down.

The colleagues drove to the Keighley roundabout where they planned to go to Riddlesden when they saw the white car again, this time being chased by a black car.

"The cars were going really fast round and round the roundabout, about three times, wheels screeching. Then as we waited we saw a man being thrown out. It looked as if he was holding an axe though it was difficult to tell. He was being chased by another man."

Her passenger Mrs Leighton said: "We were not expecting it. At the roundabout I started rummaging for my mobile phone to call the police. We just didn't want to get caught up in what was happening."

She described seeing a man holding what appeared to be a baseball bat: "He was holding it over his shoulder and was chasing another man. I don't recall seeing any others but there may have been."

She told her husband about the incident the next day and he told her he had heard about the killing on the news and urged her to contact the police.

Zulfiqar Asif, 23, of Bradford Road; Amjad Ali Azam, 21, of Surrey Street; Perveez Ashraf, 26, of Victoria Park View; Zahir Bashir, 27, of Emley Street; Mohammed Rafiq, 21, of Chatsworth Street; and Atif Younis, 22, of Buxton Street, all Keighley; and Mohammed Iqbal, 24, of Salt Street, Manningham, Bradford all deny the charge.

The case continues.