THREE men and a woman have appeared before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court today charged with murdering Bradford man Paul Ackroyd almost a year to the day since he died.

Mr Ackroyd, 37, a father of two, was found with head injuries in Jinnah Court, Manningham, Bradford, in the early hours of Saturday, February 23 last year and died in hospital a short time later.

Rashpal Singh Gill, 39, of Leeds Road, Bradford; Alex Bates, 18, of Eastfield Gardens, Holme Wood, Bradford; Mohammed Jawaid Khan, 52, of Leylands Lane, Heaton, Bradford; and Kirsty Rushworth, 31, of Walker Avenue, Lidget Green, Bradford, were each remanded in custody overnight to appear before Bradford Crown Court at 9.30am tomorrow.

The defendants were brought up from the cells for three separate hearings in Court 3 this morning.

First in the dock were Mohammed Jawaid Khan and Kirsty Rushworth. The courtroom was packed with family members and friends for the brief hearing that saw the defendants provide their names, addresses and dates of birth.

Prosecutor Nusrat Mahmood told Khan and Rushworth their cases could only be heard at the Crown Court and the Bench could not hear applications for bail. They would be decided by a judge in chambers at the higher court.

Khan’s solicitor advocate, Fuad Arshad, and Rushworth’s lawyer, Sharan Dosanjh, said they had made their clients aware of these facts.

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Rushworth called out “I love you” to close family members in the public gallery who were visibly upset and tearful when she was escorted back down to the cells.

The third defendant, teenager Alex Bates, understood he could not make a bail application today, his solicitor advocate Shahzad Ali told the court.

“He intends to plead not guilty,” Mr Ali said shortly before Bates was led back down to the cells.

There was then a gap in the proceedings because the fourth murder accused, Raspal Singh Gill, was brought to the court centre later than his co-accused.

He was also represented by Miss Dosanjh who said she had explained to him that he could not apply for bail today.

The four defendants will appear before Judge Jonathan Rose at Bradford Crown Court in the morning.

They are jointly charged with murdering Mr Ackroyd in Jinnah Court, Bradford, on February 23, 2019.

Police were called at 3.52am to reports of a man lying in the street injured. A murder investigation was launched following the death of Mr Ackroyd, who was known by the nickname, Acky.