'I have never met these guys': Murder accused denies knowing men who carried out Chapeltown doorstep shooting of Christopher Lewis

Denzil Brown Senior described how he was "shocked" at being arrested over the doorstep shooting of Christopher Lewis..

Mr Lewis, 24, was shot in the head outside his home on Reginald Street, Chapeltown, on August 1 last year

Gunman Steven Grey and Jonathan Gledhill - who acted as a "stalker" - were convicted of murdering Mr Lewis following a trial in July.

The court has been told how Mr Lewis was targeted because he was a member of a rival drug dealing gang called the Flock.

Three others - Denzil Browne Junior, Owen Clarke and Lewis Pearce - were found guilty of assisting an offender following the July trial.

Pearce 27, of no fixed address, Browne Junior, 23, of Oaklands Crescent, Gipton, and Clarke, 26, of Haw Avenue, Yeadon, helped the killers get away from the Chapeltown area afterwards.

Grey, aged 38, of Town Street, Armley, fired the fatal shot before he and 38-year-old Gledhill, of Dib Lane, Roundhay, ran away for around five minutes.

Brown Senior, of Parkfield Court, Morley, is standing trial alone. He denies murder.The defendant told the jury he has never met the two men who were convicted of murdering Mr Lewis.

The father-of-ten told the court: "I do not know these guys. I have never met them before in my life."

The prosecution claim Brown Senior, 50, drove Grey and Gledhill away from Chapeltown in his Mercedes 4x4 following the shooting.

It is alleged Brown Senior dropped Grey and Gledhill off at the border of Chapeltown and Chapel Allerton before returning to the area where the killing happened.

Brown Senior told the jury that he had been in the area around the time of killing but had been visiting family and friends to deliver presents he had brought back from a holiday to Florida.

Prosecutors claim Brown Senior got involved in the "execution" of Mr Lewis after his son Denzil Browne Jnr was seriously injured when he was attacked by Flock gang members in a violent clash in Leeds city centre three days before the killing.

Browne Jnr was attacked with an axe and a scythe and suffered injuries including a slash wound on his back.Brown Senior's barrister, Mark George, QC, asked: "Did you have anything to do with the murder of Christopher Lewis whatsoever, in any way, shape or form?"

The defendant replied: "No sir, no."

Mr George then asked: "Did you want revenge?"

Brown Senior replied: "No sir."

Mr George continued: "Do you offer any assistance."

The defendant replied: "No. No. No."

The court was told Brown Senior was arrested in connection with Mr Lewis' murder on December 12 last year, more than four months after the shooting.

Asked how he felt about being arrested, Brown Senior replied: "I was in shock. I was stunned and shocked. It was one of the worst things ever."

The trial continues.