A SECURITY guard told police he thought a joke was being played on him moments before he had a gun pointed at his head while £75,000 was stolen from his van.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that Colin Frewer was working for Securicor on November 18 last year when his company van was targeted by balaclava-clad gunmen outside Lloyds TSB in Nacton Road, Ipswich.



Leroy Hardy, 38, of Brixton and Steven Blacklaw, 25, of Hemel Hempstead are accused of carrying out that robbery as well as a further robbery from outside the same bank on February 10 this year.

Both men deny the charges.

A jury heard that in a statement to police Frewer said he and a colleague arrived at the bank at shortly before 10am, less than ten minutes before the armed robbery took place.

Mr Frewer said: “I heard shouting coming from behind me and turned round to see a person running toward me with both hands out in front of him holding a gun.

“My first reaction was that it was a joke but they started shouting again at me to get down on the floor.”

He said that he was pushed up against the van and two other men came round each side of the van.

Mr Frewer added: “All three were man-handling me.

“One of them shouted at my colleague driving the van to chuck the money out or they would burn me.

“I saw one of them holding a tin can over my head that I thought was probably lighter fuel.”

The prosecution alleges that the car used by the robbers to drive away from the scene of the first robbery was found to contain a plastic drink bottle filled with petrol.

It is claimed the bottle had Blacklaw's DNA on it.

Then on December 2 a rucksack of fake money was found in the river at Cliff quay with one of Blacklaw's fingerprints being identified on a bank note.

The trial continues today.