A CAR dealer accused of being involved in Britain's biggest cash robbery protested his innocence when he was questioned by detectives.

John Fowler, 58, was arrested after police traced a lorry and van used in the £53million Tonbridge robbery to his home. He told police that he had hired the lorry for a friend, car salesman Stuart Royle, who is also accused in connection with the robbery.

Fowler told detectives that Royle, 48, owed him debts of about £80,000, the trial at the Old Bailey heard.

He said: "If I went along to do an armed robbery I wouldn't go to a hire firm and give my name and address, that would be the most foolish thing you could do. If I was going to do a bank robbery I would keep it as far removed from my property as I could."

He also told police that Royle had asked him if a sign writer could put signs on the van at Fowler's compound.

Fowler's nickname for Royle is Slippery, the court heard. He said: "Stuart is a bit of a liberty taker, he does things and then asks afterwards."

Seven men are on trial. They are John Fowler, 58, Stuart Royle, 48, Emir Hysenaj, 27, Jetmir Bucpapa, 26, Lea Rusha, 24, Roger Coutts, 30, and Keith Borer, 53.

Fowler, of Elderden Farm, Chart Hill Road, Staplehurst; car salesman Royle, of Allen Street, Maidstone; unemployed Bucpapa, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge; roofer Rusha, of Lambersart Close, Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells; Hysenaj, of New Road, Crowborough, East Sussex; and Coutts, a garage owner, of The Green, Welling, all deny conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to possess a firearm at the time of committing an offence.

Hairdresser Michelle Hogg, 32, of Brinklow Crescent, Woolwich, southeast London, was cleared of all three charges earlier in the hearing.

Borer, of Little Venice Country Park, Hampstead Lane, Yalding, near Maidstone, denies handling stolen goods.

The trial continues.