A man arrested on suspicion of violent armed robbery was wearing splints and ankle supports when he arrived at the police station, a jury was told.

Mariusz Wolkowicz, 38, of Thornbury Drive, Thornbury, Bradford, who attends Court in a wheelchair, denies taking part in a planned ambush on two Polish couriers who were beaten, stripped and bound.

The masked three-strong gang left their victims tied up in the back garden of a house in Glenbrook Drive, Lidget Green, Bradford, on July 19 last year.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the robbers made off in the couriers’ parcel van. It was found abandoned the next day in Musgrave Road, Eccleshill, Bradford. A bloodstain on the glove box belonged to Wolkowicz.

He pleads not guilty to robbing Jaroslaw Wilk and Jan Lorak, possession of an imitation firearm and taking the van without authority.

The two men were delivering and collecting packages across the country when they were summoned to the empty house at night.

Mr Lorak was beaten up and told by one assailant: “If you don’t shut up, I’ll blow your head off.” Mr Wilk was struck on the head with what looked like the handle of a shotgun. He was dragged to the back of the house, beaten and sprayed in the face.

He handed over £600 and was bound with tape to a gate. Mr Lorak was handcuffed and both men were stripped to their underwear. Prosecutor Caroline Wigin said it is the Crown’s case that Wolkowicz was mobile enough at the time to play his role in the robbery.

His barrister, Stephen Uttley, said that Wolkowicz was arrested on September 10. His custody record from the police station showed he was wearing splints on his legs and ankle supports for muscular wastage.

Wolkowicz told police the robbery was nothing to do with him. He had sat in the stolen van after a Polish man asked him to help find a place to hide it.

Wolkowicz said he knew nothing about documents from the robbery found in his girlfriend’s flat.

The jury heard his fingerprints were not in the van and nothing at his home linked him to the crime.

The trial continues.