Julie Haines was introduced to Naveed Mahmood, 23, of Glanville Road, Sheffield, in the summer of 2006 by Sam Lee, 30, of Deerlands Avenue, Sheffield.

She told Leeds Crown Court the three were friends and that she often spent time with Cherie Lee, the wife of Lee, at their home.

Miss Haines, who once worked at Caesar's Massage Parlour in Sheffield, said she was asked by Mahmood to give him an alibi on Sunday February 11 – the night Halifax man Mian Shahid Mehmood was shot dead at Great Edge Road, Warley.

Miss Haines said: "He wanted me to give an alibi saying he was with me. He said he was going out of town."

Miss Haines told the court she next met Mahmood some weeks later.

Tom Bayliss QC, prosecuting, asked Miss Haines: "How was he behaving?"

She replied: "He was just his normal, hyper self.

"He said he had been out of town and was driving to Halifax from Sheffield. He said he was going to see someone and that he picked a man up from Halifax, I think.

"The man got shot."

The court heard how Mahmood told Miss Haines he had just been the driver during the incident.

Lee and Mahmood are charged, alongside John Reeves, 54, of Adlington Road, Sheffield, and Arza Khan, 27, and Tahir Mahmood, 22, both of Parkinson Lane, Halifax, of killing Mr Mehmood.

The prosecution alleges Khan and Tahir Mahmood took out a contract on Mr Mehmood's life after he married their sister.

All five deny murdering Mr Mehmood.

• Proceeding