A man accused of causing the death of a mother crushed when his van rolled down a hill, told a jury he had parked it with the handbrake on.

Mohammed Karani said when he left the Ford Transit Connect van in Swindon Road, Dewsbury while doing some electrical work in the Medina Academy: “I pulled the handbrake as far as it goes.”

Asked in cross-examination by Stephen Wood prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court why the vehicle had therefore rolled downhill if the handbrake was pulled up to the maximum the defendant replied: “How did it remain stationed for 43 minutes?”

He told the jury if the handbrake was only on the second notch of six as the prosecution claim “it would have rolled straight away.”

Mr Wood put it to him: “You may wish most earnestly with every fibre of your being you had pulled it on as far as it will go but you didn’t.”

“I did, as far as it will go, that’s your verdict not mine,” replied the defendant.

Karani, 44, of Park Close, Batley denies causing the death of Simran Ahmed by careless or inconsiderate driving on April 26 last year.

The jury has heard she suffered catastrophic internal injuries after she was crushed by the runaway van after it had careered across Willans Road at the bottom of Swindon Road. Her 10-year-old daughter Kiran who was walking with her had a fractured skull.

The prosecution claim the van was also not left in forward gear or with its steering wheel turned away from the kerb when it was facing uphill.

Karani told the jury he would normally leave his vehicle in gear but on that day: “I can’t remember whether I put it in gear or not.”