Mohammed Basharat murder trial: Accused convicted of New York killing

Ricardo Linton, 45, is on trial at Bradford Crown Court charged with murder and attempted murder

A man accused of murdering a taxi driver 20 years ago in Bradford was convicted of an "identical" killing in New York, a jury has heard.

Prosecutors say Ricardo Linton, 45, shot dead Mohammed Basharat, 33, after the two men had been involved in a road rage row the previous night.

Mr Linton, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of the 1993 shooting of a man in Brooklyn and later jailed, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He denies murder and attempted murder.

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Jurors previously heard Mr Linton shot Mr Basharat twice in the head before opening fire on a second man in the 2001 Bradford attack.

Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, described the New York and Bradford murders as "identical", stating that both involved a handgun blasts to the head and were targeted attacks.

Giving evidence, Mr Linton said "the jury got it wrong" in the New York trial, and insisted he had been in London, collecting drugs, at the time of the Bradford murder.

Mr Linton told the court he was dealing crack cocaine and had travelled from Yorkshire to pick up a brick of the drug.

Mr Wright asked: "So twice in eight years you've been falsely implicated in the shooting of another man?"

"Yes," Mr Linton responded.

Mr Basharat was killed at a taxi office on Park Lane by a gunman wearing a green balaclava who fired four shots, hitting him in the head and mouth.

The trial continues.