A CAR dealer accused of helping the robbers behind Britain's biggest cash heist told police he believed he was put in the frame by one of the other defendants.

John Fowler said he thought he was helping a friend when he hired a van for car salesman Stuart Royle, 48, in the week of the £53 million Securitas raid in Tonbridge.

He said Royle asked him to put the white Renault in his name for one day because he didn't have a credit card, but got him to extend the hire for another two days because he hadn't finished with it.

An Old Bailey jury has heard how armed robbers, posing as police officers, abducted depot boss, Colin Dixon, 52, on his way home from work on Tuesday, February 22 last year.

It is alleged they grabbed his wife and their young child from the family home in Herne Bay and drove them to a remote farm.

After forcing Mr Dixon to hand over the depot's security secrets, the gang rounded up staff and held them at gunpoint before fleeing with £53 million, the biggest robbery haul in British history.

The court heard that Fowler told police he picked up the van from Canterbury on the Tuesday and handed it to Royle at services on the M20. Royle wanted it to clear a shop.

He told police he was shocked to see the news the following day.

He said: "It said the police were looking for a white truck and I said: 'Oh no, this is not good news.'

"I phoned Stuart and said: 'Is this a major coincidence or have I been put in the frame here?'

"He said to relax. I said: 'This is not the same truck is it?' He said: 'No, nothing to do with you.' And I said: 'I'm not happy about it."

Fowler said he received a threatening anonymous phone call telling him to keep his nose clean before taking the van back on Thursday, two days late.

Asked by detectives if he knew anything about the money, he said: "I'm not involved in the robbery. I don't know anything about it.

"I thought I was helping a friend. I was doing someone a favour and now it's causing me grief."

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

Car dealer Fowler of Elderden Farm, Chart Hill Road, Staplehurst, Kent, 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, has been cleared of all three charges after the prosecution offered no evidence.

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

The trial continues.