A man accused of killing a professional rugby player and another man today claimed in court that former "Robocop" Ray Mallon forced him to sell drugs.

Paul Bryan made the claim at Leeds Crown Court where he is accused of fatally shooting former Sheffield Eagles player David Nelson and his friend Joseph Montgomery in a Leeds pub last year.

Bryan, 41, who denies two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, claimed Mr Mallon told him to sell drugs that he had taken from police stores or from people he had arrested.

Bryan told the jury: "He forced me to sell drugs. Sometimes when he gave them to me, they were in packages. They had drugs in them.

"I thought he was stealing them from police stores or taking them when he arrested people."

When asked by his barrister, Desmond de Silva QC, where the proceeds of the drugs sales went, Bryan replied: "Mr Mallon". Earlier he claimed the officer approached him in a police cell holding a sawn-off shotgun.

He claimed Mr Mallon threatened to plant a shotgun in his house unless he "grassed" on a man he knew. .