A man jointly accused of murdering two men by ramming their car off the road has denied any involvement in their deaths and said he had been left "devastated" by what happened. Rekan Karwan, from Leicester, was the fourth defendant to give evidence on Monday, June 5, telling the jury he was about four car lengths behind the crash victims' Skoda when it came off the road.

As the jury has heard, the eight defendants, including TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari, went to meet the crash victims at Tesco in Hamilton in the early hours of Friday, February 11 last year but the men fled. The eight defendants pursued them up the A46 and Rekan was driving Mahek's Audi at that time the Skoda came off the road - allegedly rammed into a tree by a Seat Leon driven by Rekan's co-defendant Raees Jamal.

Rekan's barrister Mark Rainsford KC asked him: "Do you feel any sense of responsibility or regret for what happened?" He replied: "I feel responsible in the sense of, if when I was in Tesco if I hadn't followed the [Skoda and the Seat] maybe the chase wouldn't have happened."

READ MORE: TikTok influencer murder trial updates on day 26 of evidence as Mahek Bukhari's co-defendants take stand

When asked how he felt about the men's deaths he said: "Devastated. And very upsetting, as well." Mr Rainsford asked Rekan whether he knew why the Skoda came off the road and he said no. He was asked: "Did you do anything that contributed to the Skoda coming off the road?" He said no. He was asked if he felt empathy towards the two men's families. He said: "Of course. Every day since this happened."

The jury also heard from Rekan that Mahek had lied to him about the reason for them being there to help her. He thought Saqib Hussain - one of the two crash victims - was blackmailing Mahek using 'deep-fake' naked photographs of her, whereas it was really Mahek's mother Ansreen who was being blackmailed.

Rekan said: "Mahek had told me she was getting blackmailed and harassed by someone called Saqib Hussain." He was asked if he knew about Ansreen's involvement and he said "not at all".

He said Mahek sent him an example of what Saqib was doing. He said it was a "face of a girl and a different woman's body merged and it was very realistic". All parties now agree Saqib was threatening to share naked pictures and videos of Ansreen - with whom he had been having an affair for the past three years.

The eight defendants, who all deny two counts of murder, are Natasha Akhtar (22) of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, Ansreen Bukhari (47) of George Eardley Close, Stoke, Mahek Bukhari (24) of George Eardley Close, Stoke, Raees Jamal (23) of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, Rekan Karwan (28) of Tomlin Road, Leicester, Mohammed Patel (20) of Braybrooke Road, Leicester, Sanaf Gulammustafa (22) of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Ameer Jamal (27) of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester. The trial continues.

Mahek Bukhari
Mahek Bukhari

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