A cab driver told today how a gunman pointed a revolver at his head and squeezed the trigger only seconds after executing a dad-of-four.

Shaokat Khan cheated death when the weapon failed to fire.

All the 35-year-old heard was the click of the hammer as he cowered behind a cushion he held across his face.

Mr Khan was one of three mini cab drivers who saw Mohammed Basharat, 33, gunned down in the offices of the Little Horton Private Hire in Little Horton, Bradford.

He said only seconds before his workmate's death at around 8.10pm on Saturday, Bash as he was known to his colleagues, flicked the kettle on to make a cup of tea.

As he leant against a map of Bradford on the wall of the operator's cabin, Mr Basharat, from Heaton, chatted to operator Loretta Greenwood.

Mr Khan said he was watching TV on the opposite side of the office with fellow drivers Gulfraz Aslam, 43, Jamshad Khan, 30.

The shocked driver, from West Bowling, said: "I saw a guy walk through the doorway.

"He didn't say a word but just pointed the gun at Bash and fired. The bullet went through the glass in the operator's booth before it hit Bash in the left temple and went straight through.

"Bash slumped to the floor but this guy held the gun over him and turned it on its side, gangster-style, and shot him twice more. I'd got up by then and the guy turned around and pointed the gun at my head and fired, but it didn't go off.

"I just thought that I was going to die and I held a cushion in front of my face as some sort of protection but all I heard was these clicks as he pulled the trigger again and again.

"He'd tried to shoot Jamshad in the head and pointed the gun at his temple but the gun didn't work.

"The police told us later that when he shot Bash the gun had exploded. If it hadn't I wouldn't be here today."

The gunman, who police said is Afro-Caribbean and wore a balaclava or scarf to hide his face, fled the offices chased by Mr Khan, pictured right with Mr Aslam.

He said: "I ran after him but the lady operator came out and said 'don't chase him, we're losing our friend, we're losing our friend'.

"I went back inside the office and Bash was lying on his side in the operating booth with a pool of blood under his head.

"Loretta had dialled 999 and was on the telephone to a nurse who was telling us what to do.

"The nurse said: 'just keep taking the blood out of his mouth and make sure he doesn't swallow his tongue'. We felt his wrist and got a pulse at first, but after five or six minutes he started to fade.

"He coughed once and I said: 'Bash, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep' but that was his last movement and he was dead."

All three drivers were covered in blood and police later took their clothes as evidence.

Gulfraz Khan, 43, from Marshfields, said: "The night before Jamshad had helped Bash out when he got into an argument with two lads after they'd had a small bump with Bash's car.

"Jamshad thought one of the men was the gunman.

"None of us can believe that Bash is dead."

Detectives are investigating whether Mr Basharat's murder was linked to the confrontation he had with the driver the previous night in Park Lane at the junction with Holme Street.