Victim ‘told of previous attempt on his life’ HOUSING OFFICER TELLS MURDER TRIAL OF CRAIG’S SYRINGE ATTACK CLAIMS

Probation officer Andrew told the hearing: “He said a lift had been offered with Mr Bashir driving.

“Craig told me he motioned to get in the back but both Mr Bashir and Miss Mason were insistent that he sit in the front.

“He said Miss Mason reached over and tried to stab him.”

Rotherham housing officer Melanie Applegate said Mr Preston told her Mason had tried to stab him in the neck and he had shown her a five-centimetre scratch.

She said: “Shiraz abandoned Craig at Elsecar (in Barnsley). He said Leonie had tried to stab him in the neck with a syringe of steroids. They were in the car when that happened.

“He said ‘she tried to kill me’ and they left him stranded in Elsecar.”

In a separate incident, Mr Preston had told Miss Applegate he had seen Bashir bundle Mason into a car at gunpoint.

At that time, Mason had taken his jacket, keys and £40.

Police were called because Mr Preston had been left with no money to pay a taxi driver and Miss Applegate saw him afterwards.

She said: “He became very upset and agitated. He said ‘I have got nothing left, I am going to get a knife and kill myself in front of you.’”

He went on to slash his arms and take medicine before being taken to hospital.

Later she saw Mr Preston and Mason and “they appeared happy and were dressed up ready to go out”.

She added: “That was three days after, it surprised me.”

The jury also heard that while Mr Preston served a short prison sentence prior to those events last year, Mason and Bashir were living in his flat.

Mason and Bashir both deny murder. The case continues.