THE 21-year-old who attacked taxi driver Mohammed Mahroof admitted today he did not want to carry out the botched robbery, which led to the cabbie's death.

Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa told Reading Crown Court he had a "gut feeling" after getting into the 39-year-old's black Toyota Avensis outside Busy Bees nursery last May.

In a police interview read out in court he said: "I had a gut feeling like what am I doing? Why am I doing this?"

Mustafa and Asif Ahram Mohammed are accused of murdering Mr Mahroof, a father-of-two from Chiltern Avenue, High Wycombe, after luring him to the Rye in an attempt to rob him.

The court heard Mohammed came up with the plan to rob a taxi driver while the pair were drinking Stella lager in the Rye, and he also provided Mustafa with the serrated kitchen knife to threaten their victim with. He hoped to get £200 to £300 from the robbery.

Mustafa told the court he did not want to go through with the plan at first but was easily persuaded.

"I went along with it so from there he (Mohammed) went and got the knife (from his house in Roberts Road).

"On the way back we made a phone call and told the taxi to come to a certain area," he added.

Mohammed, using the name Ali, called Neales taxis from a phonebox in Queen Victoria Road and asked for a pick-up outside Busy Bees. Mr Mahroof was dispatched to the nursery as the pair made their way to meet him.

Mustafa said: "As we were walking Asif said 'I'll go this way, you go that way - it'll be easier for you to get away' and the taxi was already parked then.

"As we were walking we separated. I went towards the taxi, he went his way."

Mohammed waited nearby under a tree while Mustafa got into the passenger seat of the cab with the knife hidden under his arm, the court heard.

Mustafa told Mr Mahroof he needed to wait for a friend and they spent around 15 minutes chatting about the areas of Pakistan they were from.

Mr Mahroof even lent Mustafa his mobile phone to call his "friend".

Detective Sergeant Robert Storrar, who interviewed Mustafa after he was arrested, asked him why it took him so long for him to commit the robbery.

"Because I didn't want to do it," he replied, "But in the other way I can't say I was forced to do it."

During one of his interviews Mustafa admitted he had intended to strike Mr Mahroof when he swung the knife out "without warning" from behind his arm, but only to threaten him.

As he did so he demanded cash from Mr Mahroof saying: "Give me the money, I want the money."

He intended to strike the driver in the arm but instead the knife plunged into the left hand side of his neck just below his ear.

Mustafa said: "I wasn't meant to do it hard, I only just meant to give him a little mark so he knows I'm not playing about."

Mustafa bolted from the cab after Mr Mahroof managed to scramble out of the car clutching his wounded neck. As he took off across the Rye he dumped his jacket in the woods.

Mr Mahroof managed to stagger towards Abbey Way before collapsing on the grass verge. He was rushed to Wycombe Hospital but died shortly afterwards.

Both defendants deny murder. The trial continues.