ONE of the men accused of killing taxi driver Mohammed Mahroof admitted today that he lied to police about his involvement in the incident.

The news came as the family of Mr Mahroof, who died last May, released another photograph of him.

Asif Ahram Mohammed, 26, initially told police he did not even know his co-defendant Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa, 21, and had played no part in the conspiracy to rob a taxi driver.

However, after several days of interviews he changed his story but said his part in the robbery was limited to supplying the knife used and to make the phone call that lured Mr Mahroof to Rye Park, where the robbery was carried out.

Asked why he had lied, Mohammed told Reading Crown Court today: "I was frightened. I was just trying to buy some time and limit the damage."

He said the robbery had been Mustafa's idea and that it had also been his idea to use a knife.

He told the court: "Mustafa said we need to make some money by robbing someone as we were approaching the subway. It didn't enter my head that he was being serious.

"He was telling me that we need a knife. There was an empty bottle of vodka which he smashed. He said we need something a bit bigger than this."

Mohammed, who had consumed half a bottle of vodka and several cans of Stella throughout the day, said Mustafa appeared big-headed and told him he had committed this sort of crime several times before.

He said: "I thought he knows what he's doing. He's going to take the knife out, show them it, scare them and take the money."

Asked whether he thought Mustafa would actually use the knife during the robbery Mohammed replied: "I never would have thought in a million years he would have used the knife. I didn't think he was that kind of person."

The two men decided to rob a taxi from Neale's Cabs - a company Mohammed previously worked for. He admitted that both men had conspired to commit the robbery but added he did not know Mr Mahroof had been killed during the incident.

He said: "I assumed he took the money off the person and had left me in the lurch and run off with the money."

He added that when he heard of Mr Mahroof's death his head was "all over the place."

Both men deny murder. The trial continues.