Pair deny fake passport plot for murder suspect

Two men accused of helping a man charged with a double murder have told a court they were unaware they were involved in a plot to obtain a fake passport.

Mohammed Maneer Khan, 39, is accused of murdering Duaine Mills, 28, and Syed Zain Ali, 32, in Harrow Street, Wolverhampton, in the early hours of 19 September 2025.

He pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but has admitted fraud after attempting to obtain a passport in a false name.

Samir Patel and Yaseen Patel have denied doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice between 18 September and 21 November last year.

Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court heard on Wednesday that about two months after the shooting, on 20 November, Khan went to the Passport Office in Birmingham in a bid to apply for a passport in the name of Samir Patel.

Khan was named as a suspect by police on 21 September last year and had changed his appearance within two days, the court previously heard.

Yaseen, 35, of Bromford Way, Birmingham, told the court on Wednesday that he was a self-employed finance broker. He said he was contacted by Khan on 22 September, who was posing as Samir Patel, for help with a third-party passport application.

"I took him at face value, payment was paid on a bank card, there was no reason to think otherwise," he said when asked by defence barrister Tamara Sher if he knew the person he was meeting was not Samir Patel.

The pair had struck up a friendship within two months and he described Khan as, "nice enough, polite and a generally nice guy."

On 20 November, Yaseen collected Khan to take him to the passport office interview so that "he could get paid for the work he had done" and he was told that Khan did not have a driving licence.

The court was played two sets of audio of Yaseen making calls to the EE mobile network provider to order a replacement for a SIM card that was used for the application. It was later delivered to Samir Patel's house.

After being sworn in as a witness, Samir Patel told the jury that he applied for a passport at his mother's request so that he could attend a family wedding abroad.

The court heard that it was his first time applying for an adult passport so the application was carried out by two friends that he referred to as J and Ali.

"I've never applied for a passport, I don't know how to go about it", the 43-year-old of St Catharines Close, Walsall, told the jury.

When quizzed by prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard about £120 that was deposited into his account on 23 September, he told jurors that he had been paid by his mother as he was unemployed.

Orchard told the court that the photo alleged to have been taken by Khan had a "striking resemblance" to Samir.

He claimed he was not suspicious when he was not asked to provide a photograph of himself and thought it would be done after the passport office interview.

The court heard a set of handwritten notes with Samir's details needed for the passport interview were found in Yaseen's BMW car on 20 November.

Samir said notes about his and his parent's personal history were written down because "I wanted to pass the interview, I drink and do drugs, I could be high and I could make a mistake. I was being extra cautious."

However he denied having any knowledge of how handwritten notes came into Yaseen's possession and also denied knowing that someone would be attending the interview in his place.

At the time, a passport application would have cost about £100 and the payment was made from Samir's bank account.

Addressing the additional £20 that was paid into his account, defence barrister Tommy Dominguez argued that it was to cover his overdraft fees and was not a reward.

Samir replied: "No, the money came from my mum."

The trial continues.

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