A MAN told detectives DNA linking him to the £53 million Securitas heist was just a coincidence, a court heard.

The genetic fingerprint of Roger Coutts was found inside a Transit van allegedly used to transport Lynn Dixon, 47, wife of Securitas boss Colin Dixon, and their child, on February 21 last year.

The Old Bailey heard that detectives picked up Coutts twice.

Officers revealed details of the robbery to Coutts, and referred to a red van, with Parcel Force logos, which was said to have been used in the kidnapping and found dumped at the Hook and Hatchet pub, Detling.

Ownership of the van was traced to a man called Mark Scott, who had bought it from Wateringbury Car Sales, Tonbridge Road, Wateringbury, a site where suspects John Fowler and Stuart Royle owned premises.

Inside the truck forensic teams found a shoe print belonging to the child and DNA belonging to Coutts.

Coutts, from Welling, handed a prepared statement to officers claiming that as owner of Northfleet Transit he had contact with 30 to 40 commercial vehicles every week, adding: “In the last six months I have been inside or worked in approximately 75 LDV vans.”

A stash of the money from the raid was also found in a yard next to a white van owned by 30-year-old Coutts, at EMR Cars in Wickham Lane, Welling, it is said.

Lea 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 possess a firearm.

Hairdresser Michelle Hogg, 32, of Brinklow Crescent, Woolwich, has been cleared of all three charges.

Keith Borer, from Hampstead Lane, Yalding, near Maidstone, denies dishonestly receiving £6,100 of stolen money.