THE gang which carried out Britain’s biggest cash robbery used high-tech spying equipment to carry out reconnaissance missions on their planned target and the home of kidnap victim Colin Dixon and his family, the court heard.

On the second day of the Securitas robbery trial, the jury at the Old Bailey were told how evidence suggested the gang could have been planning the raid up to seven months in advance on February 22, 2006.

Seven men and one woman stand trial at the Old Bailey accused of being part of the gang which masterminded and carried out the Securitas robbery in February 2006.

Lea Rusha, of Lambersart Close, Southborough , Stuart Royle, from Allen Street, Maidstone, Jetmir Bucpapa, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge, Roger Coutts, of The Green, Welling, John Fowler, of Chart Hill Road, Staplehurst, Ermir Hysenaj, of New Road, Crowborough, and Michelle Hogg, of Brinklow Crescent, Woolwich, have all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to have in their possession a firearm.

A seventh man, Keith Borer, from Hampsted Lane, Yalding, is accused of dishonestly receiving £6,100 of stolen Securitas money, which he denies.

Sir John Nutting, QC, spent the second morning of the trial continuing his outline of the case for the jury of eight women and four men.

He said that evidence to be presented to the court, including CCTV images, show that a man, thought to be Hysenaj, had been fitted with a minute camera which was used to gain pictures of the inside of the depot five weeks before the heist.

In an interview, Hysenaj denied making any video.

The prosecution also alleges that Hysenaj supplied the gang with the name of his manager Colin Dixon.

According to Sir John, this led to intense research into Colin Dixon.

The computer found at Shaftesbury Drive, Maidstone, home of Stuart Royle’s mother, had been used in January 2006 to search for “Colin Dixon Kent” using a search engine called Tracesmart. The request was repeated 10 times on the same day.

The Crown say that on January 31, 2006, Rusha and another person, who cannot be named at this stage for legal reasons, drove Bucpapa’s car to Herne Bay to carry out a reconnaissance on the home address of Mr Dixon.

A video of the house was recovered from the memory of a media centre at Rusha’s, in Lambersart Close. And an attempt to get an image of Mrs Dixon was thwarted when she failed to answer her door.

According to mobile phone details, Coutts was also in the vicinity of the Dixon home on three consecutive days a week after the reconnaissance.

The case continues.