THE manager of the Securitas depot in Tonbridge told a court about the guilt he felt after being forced to let in an armed gang.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey during the second week of the £53 million Securitas trial, Colin Dixon said he felt guilt for even stopping his car in the first place but admitted there was little else he could have done as he had no reason to believe the people who stopped him were anything other than real policemen.

When asked how he felt when he saw his staff at the depot, Mr Dixon, whose wife and child were also being held by the gang, said: “I remember thinking 'oh God, what have I done. If I hadn’t stopped and co-operated, we wouldn’t be standing here.”

The court heard how the robbers drove Mr Dixon to Tonbridge's Vale Road and made him enter the depot with one of the gang, who was disguised as a policeman.

Once inside, Mr Dixon told the staff member manning the security gate to co-operate with whatever the robbers said, as they had his wife and child.

Mr Dixon then let the car containing the other robbers inside, and later let a white van and car into the loading bay.

Mr Dixon said the staff gasped and seemed alarmed when they realised what was going on.

Mr Dixon instructed them to move away from the wall where alarms were, fearing someone would set them off, causing panic amongst the robbers.

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 Hampstead Lane, Yalding, stands accused of dishonestly receiving £6,100 of stolen Securitas money, which he denies.

The trial continues.