A Bradford security guard accused of robbing his own cash van told police he "could not be a hero" when raiders struck.

Amir Hussain denies being part of a hold-up plot which saw more than £300,000 stolen from the Securicor service in Leeds last January.

Yesterday at Leeds Crown Court, the jury heard a series of interviews Hussain gave to police, detailing his version of events.

Earlier the jury was told how Hussain had been driving the armoured vehicle while colleague David Dyer acted as courier, collecting money from various businesses.

When Mr Dyer went into a public toilet by the Crown Point retail park in Leeds, he was hit over the head, gagged and handcuffed inside the building, the court heard.

Hussain denied he suggested Mr Dyer should go for a 'smoke', insisting it was his own idea. In the interview, he explained the technique of locking the exterior van door but said he "totally forgot" to do so on that occasion.

Hussain told detectives that minutes later a man appeared outside the vehicle, shouting for him to open the door.

The statement, read to the jury, said: "He said, 'Open the door. We have got your friend in the toilet. If you don't let me in now, we are going to kill him'."

Hussain added: "He came closer and I saw drops of blood on his face."

He told officers how he let the gun-wielding robber into the van - against company policy - and was punched several times in the face.

The statement detailed how he then filled the attacker's bag with cash and let him back out of the vehicle. It added: "I didn't think they were bluffing. I thought they had Dickie (Mr Dyer) in the toilet and would kill him if I didn't get the money."

When asked why he did not press the panic alarm, Hussain replied he had "blacked out" and added he also forgot to activate a tracking device.

He told officers he "couldn't be a hero" and added: "It was like a movie.

"He had blood on his face and they were threatening to kill."

Hussain, 23, of Horton Grange Road, and Fahim Azam, 23, of Farnham Road, Great Horton, both deny carrying out the robbery in January 2002. Mohammed Farooq, 22, of Hollingwood Lane, Lidget Green, has pleaded guilty to the offence.

The court had heard how a Securicor investigation found a number of unusual factors at the scene of the robbery, including how the cash deliveries had not been placed in separate time-locked safes.

The trial continues.