Liverpool

A Delta taxi driver accused of stalking and shooting a Liverpool dad to death said he was just doing a private driving job and had no idea he was involved in a murder plot.

Paul Croxton, 21, is accused of murdering Jason Osu with the help of a second man, Thomas White, by ambushing him on his driveway and riddling him with bullets.

But Croxton, whose taxi GPS showed him driving past Mr Osu’s house on Beauclair Drive, Wavertree, many times in the months before the shooting, said he was carrying two passengers who paid him to drive them about.

Croxton admitted that he and White, 29, used his taxi to travel around delivering drugs but said that many taxi drivers also took “unofficial” or private jobs, even though they are not supposed to.

He said that sometimes when his cab was shown on Beauclair Drive it was because he was trying to avoid congestion or just dropping off on innocent taxi fares.

But he said sometimes he was asked to do private job carrying two men around who he picked up in Aintree.

Neil Flewitt, QC, defending Croxton, asked: “Are you able to tell us how you were introduced to these people?”

He said: “Honestly I can’t remember.”

"Did you think it’s innocent or it must be dodgy?”

Croxton, of Polinda Gardens, St Helens, replied: “At the time I just thought it was innocent. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Mr Flewitt asked: “Did you ever realise it was going to end with someone being shot?”

Croxton, said: “No. Never. As a taxi driver you try not to read into a situation but I never thought someone was going to murder someone.”

He added: “Obviously I’m not stupid. I knew they were up to something but never did I imagine they were planning murder.”

He said besides driving the men around he also worked for them by watching Jason Osu’s house and telling the mystery men what sort of cars were outside.

Croxton, said: “The fact they were asking me about cars I just assumed they were looking to steal a car.”

Mr Flewitt, said: “Why were you willing to get involved in any sort of crime?”

Croxton replied: “The fact that they paid me to do it. I was just trying to earn a living.”

Asked if he knew the names of the men he said he did but he wouldn’t say, adding: “I’ve got responsibilities. I’ve got kids. I’ve got family. How can they be protected?”

Jason Osu, a 31-year-old dad of two, was shot seven times as he drove his car onto his driveway in November 2012 and died a week later.

Two masked assailants then jumped into a getaway car and drove away.

Paul Croxton, Thomas White, of Masefield Crescent, Bootle, and George McGovern, 54, of Ormskirk Road, Aintree deny the murder of Jason Osu.

Croxton also denies the attempted murder of Mr Osu’s friend Darren Alcock in a separate shooting incident and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.