A FORMER special constable has denied any involvement in a raid on a building society in which a robber was shot dead by police.

David Jenkins, who has also worked as a Securicor driver, claimed he had only gone to the scene in New Romney, near Hythe, to meet his son, Dean, for a drink.

He said he had no idea that his 40-year-old son was involved in an armed raid on the Nationwide Building Society in the High Street.

Jenkins, 61, said he could not think of any reason why his son, who has admitted his part in the robbery, would ask him to go there.

He told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court that he had had an argument with his wife, Amanda. If his son hadn't phoned him, he said, he would have gone for a drive or a walk to cool down.

"Dean called and said he was in the area," he said. "I didn't know the area well. We arranged to meet near a garage.

"I got there first. I didn't know how long I would have to wait. When I saw him I was concerned about the way he was behaving. He seemed agitated and was looking past me.

"I didn't ask him about it. Seconds later I saw the Nationwide Building Society and instinctively thought: 'Oh s---.' It was there as I turned.

"It must have been a trigger thing in my brain, the fact that I used to work as a special constable for five years and for Securicor."

Questioned by prosecutor Ian Acheson, he said as far as he was concerned his son was an upstanding businessman.

"I didn't think he was going to rob it," said Jenkins. "It was purely and simply a trigger point."

He denied that he and Ben Grehan were acting as look-outs, while his son was driving the getaway car.

Jenkins said he eventually drove towards his home and armed officers shot out his tyres. His right shoulder was dislocated when arrested, although he did not put up any resistance, he added.

The court has heard that "lead robber" Robert Haines, 41, of Canterbury Road, Challock, near Canterbury, was killed by a police marksman after he fired a shot from a sawn-off shotgun, while fleeing with £105,000 from the building society.

Jenkins, of Pantheon Gardens, Kingsnorth, near Ashford, denies robbery and possessing a firearm when committing an offence.

Dean Jenkins, of Wilks Close, Rainham, and Grehan, 22, of Upper Norwood, have admitted robbery and other armed raids.

The jury is due to retire to consider verdicts.