COLLEAGUES of taxi driver Mohammed Mahroof have described seeing their workmate lying in a grass verge after being fatally stabbed.

The taxi driver's shirt had turned from white to red after the attack, they told Reading Crown Court.

The court heard from Ahmed Jahanzaib Mohammed, the operator on duty at Neales on the day of the stabbing, and one of Mr Mahroof's colleagues, taxi driver Anwar Rashid.

Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa, 21, and Asif Ahram Mohammed, 26, are charged with the murder of the 39-year-old Neales taxi driver who was stabbed in the neck after responding to a pick-up at the Rye in High Wycombe last May.

Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan read out Mr Mohammed's statement, which told of the call he took from a man called "Ali" asking for a pick-up from Busy Bees nursery.

The court heard the call had been made by Mohammed from a phonebox at 8.19pm on Tuesday, May 8.

Mr Mohammed's statement said: "Roughly 15 minutes after I sent the job through the emergency alert flashed up on my computer screen.

"The emergency activation isn't something that can happen by accident. Drivers have to press 9, 9 and the send button. We have a GPRS system in all the vehicles.

"I could see the emergency from driver 81 (Mr mahroof's driver ID) was at Busy Bees."

Mr Mohammed, along with Mr Rashid, rushed to Mr Mahroof's aid and found his empty black Toyata Avensis parked near the nursery, still with the lights on and engine running.

Mr Mohammed's statement added: "I could see a lot of blood on the floor and driver's seat.

"Mr Mahroof was lying on the grass verge. When I saw him earlier he was wearing a white shirt but now there was no white to be seen, only red."

Mr Donnellan told the jury Mustafa and Mohammed had planned to rob a taxi driver at knife point after they had failed to borrow money from friends and family.

Together they agreed Mustafa would carry out the robbery, armed with a kitchen knife taken earlier from Mohammed's home in Roberts Road.

Mohammed meanwhile waited nearby underneath a tree, he said.

Mr Donnellan told the court Mustafa spent about 15 minutes building up the courage to commit the robbery and then "without warning" swung the knife, which was hidden up his sleeve, at Mr Mahroof intending to give him "a little scare".

The resultant stab wound entered the left hand side of his neck just below his ear and had a depth of nine to ten centimetres.

Mustafa ran off while Mr Mahroof managed to stumble from his cab and walk towards Abbey Way while clutching his wounded neck.

Several motorists stopped to help him and he was rushed to Wycombe Hospital but died shortly afterwards.

The jury also heard today from the police officers who arrested Mustafa and Mohammed.

Both defendants deny murder. The trial continues.