An alleged hoaxer has denied ever going to the pizzahouse which was at the centre of a major bomb scare last October.

Police locked down part of Knaresborough and arrested the staff of Paragon Pizza in High Street and searched it after someone made two 999 calls and a call to Crimestopper on October 16, York Crown Court heard.

The caller alleged the takeaway was being used by Islamic fundamentalists for bomb-making and that they planned to plant a bomb that night.

Shamsul Islam, 23, of Spencer Place, Leeds, denies three charges of making a bomb hoax call.

"I have never been to Paragon Pizza," he said giving evidence in his defence. "I have never made the calls. I have no knowledge of those calls."

He also denied having a grudge against staff at the takeaway because they had told the police information that exposed his brother as a car fraudster and himself as lying about his brother.

Islam was arrested the following day after a police chase in Leeds with cocaine on him. Officers found the phoneset alleged to have made the hoax calls with other phones in the car's glove compartment.

He denied trying to escape from the police because of the phones, which he claimed he had never used, and alleged he ran away because of the drug,

The jury heard he had admitted dangerous driving on October 17 by driving at 50 mph and 60 mph in busy 30 mph streets, swerving onto the wrong side of the road, going through a red light and crashing his brother's car.

The trial continues