THE POST-MORTEM into the death of taxi driver Mohammed Mahroof showed the force needed to cause his fatal injuries were equivalent to "knocking a nail into a piece of wood", a court heard yesterday.

Home Office pathologist Doctor Nicholas Hunt said the injuries that 39-year-old Mr Mahroof sustained were not consistent with those suggested by the man who killed him.

Doctor Hunt told Reading Crown Court the knife's entry point was at a 20 degree angle and downward pressure had been applied.

He said: "A moderate degree of force or more would be necessary to cause that wound. There is nothing to suggest there was a severe degree of force."

The wound severed the carotid vein in Mr Mahroof's neck which Dr Hunt said was what caused his death.

He said: "You are in grave danger of dying as a consequence of the bleeding and the loss of blood pressure. It is a very grave injury."

Doctor Hunt added the injuries caused were consistent with those that could be caused by the serrated knife found at the scene, just outside Busy Bees nursery in High Wycombe.

The knife itself came from the home of co-defendent Asif Ahram Mohammed, 26, of Roberts Road, High Wycombe.

Yesterday Mohammed's co-defendent Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa, 21, admitted to the jury he did kill the taxi driver but had intended to only use the knife to threaten whoever they planned to rob.

At the time the pair got the knife there had been no conversation to decide who precisely they would rob, Mustafa told the court. He said he asked Mohammed why he had got the knife, who replied: "We are going to use it to threaten someone."

Both men deny murder. The trial continues.