A WIDOW told a court that on the day her husband was fatally stabbed in Brierley Hill, she had given him a screwdriver to protect himself with as she was “paranoid for his safety”.

Niron Parker-Lee, aged 21, of Blewitt Street, Pensnett, is accused of murdering Mansoor Mahmood in an incident which unfolded on a Saturday afternoon on October 15, 2016.

A retrial of the case was ordered after a jury failed to reach a verdict following the original trial which concluded on February 13.

Today, Aisha Akhtar told Birmingham Crown Court that on the day of his death, her 24-year-old husband had left their flat in Bague Walk at around 4pm to get something to eat from Dixi Chicken.

But before he left the home they shared with their two young children, she had given him the weapon.

"He didn’t want to take it," Ms Akhtar told the court.

"I made him take it for his own safety as he’d told me he’d had a bad dream and felt like he was going to get hurt.

“I was paranoid for his safety."

Ms Akhtar said that shortly after her husband had left she had called him to see where he was.

This was the last time she spoke to him she said, adding: "I just wanted to check he was ok as I had a bad feeling. He told me he was on the High Street, walking to Dixi’s."

Ms Akhtar told the court that her husband and Parker-Lee were known to each other.

She said that in October 2015, she had been in the car with her husband when Parker-Lee had got in.

"They we’re talking about cannabis. I don’t know what they were saying as I was on my phone," she said, adding: "They seemed fine talking to each other."

However she said the pair's relationship soon soured and recalled overhearing a heated telephone conversation between the pair in December 2015.

She said she heard her husband “arguing and swearing” and that after the call, Mr Mahmood had told her that it was Parker-Lee on the other end of the line, who had ended the call by saying "it's on", which she understood to mean "a fight".

She told the court that her husband had also told her that after a confrontation with Parker-Lee in Brierley Hill High Street he told him "you should die".

Ms Akhtar said that although she was aware of her husband smoking cannabis every day, she wasn’t aware of him dealing drugs - although she later had her suspicions.

However she insisted: “He wasn’t some big time gangster.”

Parker-Lee, aged 21, of Blewitt Street denies murdering Mr Mahmood.

The trial continues.