A MAN accused of being a key player in connection with Britain’s biggest ever cash robbery has insisted that £8.61 million of stolen cash discovered in a lock-up garage was nothing to do with him.

Under cross-examination at the Old Bailey, cage fighter Lea Rusha suggested that if he had been part of the £53 million robbery in 2006, and had access to £8.61 million, he would have left the country.

He said he knew nothing about the stash found at a garage he had the key to in Castle Street, Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, shortly after the robbery.

Sir John Nutting QC, prosecuting, said: “Your case is that some unscrupulous individual left behind in a lock-up garage, to which you had access, £8.61 million in order to provide the link between you and the robbery. Let me suggest to you that is an impossibility.”

He continued: “Nobody with access to £8.61 million is going to deprive themselves of that sum in order to incriminate someone else.”

According to Rusha, DNA belonging to him found on latex in a bin belonging to make-up artist Michelle Hogg was only there by accident or bad luck.

Presented with other evidence linking him to the robbery, Rusha said: “Makes me wonder why I didn’t leave the country if I had eight and a half million.”

Rusha also denied possession of a phone, which the prosecution says links him to other conspirators, at one point laughing as he dismissed the allegation.

In a heated exchange, Sir John labelled Rusha a liar.

When Rusha claimed: “I think there have been some quite astonishing coincidences throughout this case,” he replied: “There would have to be, if you are innocent.

“You are prepared to lie in the face of facts.”

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

Hairdresser Michelle Hogg, 32, of Brinklow Crescent, Woolwich, southeast London, has been cleared of all three charges after the prosecution offered no evidence.

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

The case continues.