THE location of an operations base used during Britain’s biggest cash robbery could have been one of a number of farms, a court has heard.

At the Old Bailey Alexander Cameron, QC, told jurors that Elderden Farm in Staplehurst, near Maidstone, owned by car dealer John Fowler, was not the safehouse, or “flop”, used by the robbers who stole £53 million from the Tonbridge Securitas depot in February 2006.

He said evidence suggesting the farm was used by the robbers to hold and question kidnapped bank manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn Dixon and a child, prior to the robbery, was flawed.

Lynn Dixon’s evidence could not be trusted, he claimed, as she was drawn into identifying Elderden Farm by police, who showed her DVDs and photos of the farm before taking her to the location.

Mr Cameron said: “The senior officer in charge, who took her to Elderden Farm, didn’t know she had been shown photos.

“It was really a very dangerous and quite wrong thing to have done.”

Mr Cameron also pointed to little differences between Elderden Farm and Lynn Dixon’s description of the holding place. One key point, he said, was the large garage described by Mrs Dixon at the location.

He said: “She said this could not be the place because the garage did not run the length of the yard. It is a very big difference and should be enough to say no - it cannot be Elderden Farm.”

Other people working in the vicinity of Elderden Farm on the night of the robbery, said Mr Cameron, failed to notice any unusual activity.

Miles Reading , a finance director whose office overlooks the yard at Elderden Farm, was working for two and a half hours while the robbers were alleged to have been at the farm.

Mr Cameron said he found it hard to believe that Mr Reading could have left the office for long enough to miss the balaclava-wearing armed robbers drive into the yard and unload the stolen £53 million.

“Mr Reading was the best witness in the case,” Mr Cameron added.

The case continues.