A man accused of the murder of a Black Country shopkeeper in an alleged cultural dispute, told a jury yesterday he was sitting in a van outside the store in West Bromwich when the 45-year-old father of three was beaten to death.

Waheed Akhtar (22) told Roger Thomas QC, defending at Stafford Crown Court, that five people drove in a mini-van to the Cost Cutter store in Pemberton Road, West Bromwich, to attack Major Singh Gill.

"At the shop two of them got out and one pulled a hockey stick from underneath the driver's seat. Then they started walking towards the shop. I saw one put a hat over his head and another one was pulling a woolly hat over his head," he said.

"I did not know what this was all about. I was shocked and worried at what I had got myself into. They were in the shop for two minutes at the most. I could not see what was happening.

"I did not get out of the van. A woman came out of the shop and she looked scared and ran away. When the men got back into the van one still had the hockey stick and another had something stuck up his sleeve.

The trial continues.