The father-of-seven, who is said to have gone to the park to intervene in a fight involving his son, Umar, died in the Royal Blackburn Hospital after being stabbed and beaten.

In the dock accused of murder and violent disorder are Burnley men Mohammed Bilal Bhatti (21), of Holcombe Drive; Mohammed Shahdab Akhtar (19), of Scott Park Road; Omar Khalid (19), of Fairfield Drive; and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons. They all deny the allegations made against them.

The trial is expected to last four weeks and we'll have daily updates here ....


The barrister defending Bilal Bhatti, Mr Peter Birkett, this afternoon continued to cross-examine Mr Stefan Jones about the time leading up to the fight.

The barrister said: "You knew full well by 12-30 p.m. there was going to be a one-on-one fight in the park. You remained in the area. Were you going to become involved in the fight?"

Mr Jones replied he just wanted to watch the fight with other friends.

The barrister went on to question how much of the fight Mr Jones had seen. It had already been established Shahdab Akhtar and Umar Shafiq had become involved in a separate fight, away from the main group, and both ended up in the boating lake. Mr Jones helped to pull Shahdab out of the water.

Mr Birkett said: "There was panic and confusion I imagine. By being distracted by one scene you missed seeing other things. You are unable to tell us where precisely Mr Shafiq received a stab wound."

Mr William Waldron (defending Shahdab Akhtar) continued the cross-examination and said: "As far as you were concerned it was only going to be a punch-up. Shahdab was there asking for a one-on-one fight. He wanted to fight with Ali Altaf but ended up fighting with Umar Shafiq."

Mrs Louise Blackwell (prosecuting) then asked Mr Jones about the time leading up to the fight in Thompson Park. He said all four defendants had been to the park at first, then went away for 15 minutes and returned.

Mr Jones went on to tell the court how Mr Shafiq become more aggressive when things were shouted at him in Punjabi. He said Shahdab had asked Mr Shafiq to empty his pockets, which he did and pulled out some keys.

The prosecutor then asked when the 17-year-old defendant came back for his metal bar. Mr Jones replied: "Mr Shafiq became angry and shouting back in Punjabi. He (the defendant) then came back and asked for the bar. He started swinging it and about 30 seconds to a minute later he hit Mr Shafiq with it."

The trial continues.

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