A BARRISTER used his mobile phone to show a murder trial jury how long it took for the violence in an Elland street to end with the stabbing of Billy Khan last summer.

William Taylor QC, who is defending 40-year-old Miftah Ul-Haq on a charge of murder, began his closing speech to the jury yesterday (THURS), but just a minute into his address his mobile phone's ringtone went off.

Mr Taylor told the jury at Bradford Crown Court that he wanted to show them a graphic example of how quickly the events unfolded on the afternoon when Billy Khan was fatally injured last August.

Mr Taylor said it was not surprising that no two eye-witnesses saw the same thing and he urged the jury to use their common sense in assessing what happened.

Ul-Haq, of Elizabeth Street, Elland, has admitted stabbing the 33-year-old in the abdomen during a violent disturbance in the town last August, but he denies the murder allegation.

He also denies a charge of attempted murder or alternatively wounding with intent in respect of Billy Khan's brother Yusuf, who was also stabbed during the disturbance in the Poplar Court area.

Mr Taylor said the jury had to be satisfied that at the time he stabbed Billy Khan Ul-Haq had a ''murderous intent''.

He pointed out that his client had got the knife from his home rather than nearby Langdale Street where his brother lived and that there was only a single stab wound and not repeated stabs.

He also submitted that because Billy Khan was stabbed in the stomach area it would only have needed mild-to-moderate force to cause the injury.

''I suggest to you that all of these are big tell-tales for you when you ask yourself the question was there here a murderous intent,'' said Mr Taylor.

He said the jury would also have to consider whether Ul-Haq was acting in defence of his 51-year-old brother Mohammed Farooq.

''If you are satisfied that Miftah Ul-Haq believed his brother was in imminent danger of death, if you believe that was in his mind, then he was entitled to take the action he took to save his brother's life,'' submitted Mr Taylor.

But he added that the force used by his client would have to be considered reasonable and that would be a matter for the jury to apply their common sense.

The trial continues