A man beaten to death outside a Bradford drinking club had tried to escape his killers but was cornered and viciously set upon, a Court heard.

An eye-witness said David Leach had attempted to run from the alley next to Discovery Bay in Manningham Lane but was trapped and fell to the ground.

A statement read to the jury from Gaffa Hussain said the two men had blocked Mr Leach's way out from behind a car and that he had then heard a series of thuds and kicking sounds.

Khalid Mahmood Khan, 25, of Bradford, and Michael George, 33, of Leeds, both deny murdering Mr Leach on March 22 last year. The court heard Mr Leach, 33, of Siddal, Halifax, died of head injuries after being kicked around 20 times.

In the witness box at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, Mr Hussain said he had come out of Discovery Bay and saw a West Indian man scuffling with Mr Leach in an alleyway.

He said he had restrained his friend Khan, nicknamed Chutch, to prevent him from becoming involved in the fight. Mr Hussain said Khan had not been involved in the beating and that he could not give an accurate description of the West Indian.

He told the court the West Indian had beaten Mr Leach and then returned to carry on the attack minutes later as he was laid on the ground.

The jury heard that Mr Hussain had been sentenced to four years in prison for an earlier arson attack on the Palm Cove nightclub in Bradford. The court heard that shortly after Mr Leach's death Mr Hussain had gone to a nearby petrol station where a friend was fighting with police. He said that spots of blood found on his clothing may have come from being close to Mr Leach or could have come from the later incident.

The jury was earlier told that George had beaten Mr Leach to "teach him a lesson" for hitting his girlfriend. Mr Leach had struck his girlfriend, Lisa Johnson, after she had flirted with George in Bradford's Planet Venus nightclub, said Simon Bourne-Arton, prosecuting.

Mr Bourne-Arton said George had led the attack and that Khan had joined in. Evidence showed that Mr Leach had swallowed his own blood and suffered serious facial injuries in the sustained attack.

The trial continues.

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