A businessman told how he stared in disbelief as a friend leapt to his defence and killed a man he was arguing with.

Ali Shah, 32, claimed he almost caught victim Raz Patel in his arms as he slumped forward after being repeatedly smashed on the head with an iron bar, an Old Bailey jury heard.

Shah took the witness box to deny murder, while maintaining he was a mere witness to the slaying of his business partner last October at the Perfect Pizza, in Lee High Road, Lewisham, London.

His cousins, identical twins Asghar and Akbar Shah, both 18, are alleged to have helped in the gruesome attempts to burn, dismember and dispose of the corpse in their home town, Bradford.

Ali visited the Perfect Pizza to sign cheques and sort out paperwork, but old arguments soon sprang up between him and Raz Patel, 22, the court heard.

Two Bradford men, known as 'Usman' and 'Majit', whom Ali claims came with him to London to help redecorate his house, were waiting in a car outside.

After Raz had let him in the shop they both sent an employee there back home so they were alone, the jury was told.

Ali said: "I told him he had not been paying the bills. He said: 'Yes I have.'

"We were arguing for quite a while. It was not long after that Usman and Majit ran into the shop and Majit hit Raz over the head with a bar."

Ali said his friend, Majit, told him: 'He was shouting at you so I hit him'. Ali, told the jury that he moved Raz into the recovery position but realised he was not breathing.

Ali's defence barrister Lord Thomas QC asked how he felt. Ali replied: "Terrified."

The Shah twins both of Barnard Road, East Bowling, Bradford, and Ali each deny perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

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