A wheelchair-bound man showed jurors his legs in a bid to prove he was too disabled to take part in a violent armed robbery.

Mariusz Wolkowicz denies being part of a gang that beat, stripped and bound two Polish couriers delivering parcels in the UK.

The pair were lured to an empty house in Glenbrook Drive, Lidget Green, Bradford, after dark on July 19 last year and set upon by three masked men who threatened them with a gun.

The robbers made off in the van driven to the UK from Poland by the victims, Jaroslaw Wilk and Jan Lorak.

Wolkowicz, 38, of Thornbury Drive, Thornbury, Bradford, denies robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and taking a van without authority.

The trial has heard that his blood was found on the glove box of the stolen van and personal documents taken in the robbery were recovered from the address where he was arrested in September last year.

Wolkowicz, speaking through an interpreter, said he had an accident in Poland in 2004 when scaffolding collapsed when he was working as a builder.

He suffered a fractured spine and doctors advised him to come to the UK for treatment.

He said he has muscle wastage in both legs and can walk only with the help of calipers and crutches. Although he could manage a few steps unaided, he was incapable of running, the court heard.

Jurors stood up to take a better look when Wolkowicz yesterday removed coverings to show them the condition of his legs.

Wolkowicz told the court his bloodstain got into the van after he sat in the vehicle when two Polish men asked him to help to hide it from the police.

The jury was expected to retire today to consider its verdicts.