A MARTIAL arts expert suspected of being a leading figure in Britain’s biggest ever cash robbery has dismissed allegations against him as being “a joke”.

Speaking at the Old Bailey, Lea Rusha, 35, from Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, denied having anything to do with the robbery in February 2006 in which £53 million was stolen from the Securitas cash depot in Tonbridge.

Asked about his reaction at being arrested he said: “It was complete shock, surprise. I didn’t know what to think.”

Defending solicitor Graeme Wilson then said to Rusha: “The prosecution say you are the main man. You are a planner, a kidnapper and a robber.”

Rusha replied: “I say it’s a joke.”

Mr Wilson then addressed the jury. Reminding them that Rusha is being held in custody, he said: “If it appears Mr Rusha is lacking emotion it is because he is in a regime, monitored 24 hours a day.”

Rusha said plans for the Securitas depot found at his house did not belong to him. He had found them in the boot of a car he had borrowed from Stuart Royle’s car business in Wateringbury, near Maidstone.

He said he had no knowledge of how night vision binoculars, shotgun cartridges, and a piece of paper with the grid reference for the Securitas depot, came to be at his house.

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 trial continues.