THE jury at the lorry hijack trial has been told they would have "to believe in magic" for the defence put forward by nine men to work.

Painstaking evidence gathered by West Mercia police had exploded the accounts they gave in interviews after being arrested, said prosecutor Nigel Godsmark QC.

Their only way out had been to insist that lorry driver Alan Jones was in on the hold-up at Whittington, near Worcester, when his £171,000 computer load from Evesham.Com was stolen.

They claim he went willingly from the M5 slip-road to Wiltshire in a car afterwards to deflect suspicion but Mr Jones gave evidence of a three-hour kidnap ordeal in the boot.

Mr Godsmark said the tactic was to reduce the charge from armed robbery to a conspiracy to steal, an offence which carried a lesser sentence.

In his final speech a month into the trial at Worcester Crown Court, he pointed out that no defendants had implicated Mr Jones, aged 57, in police interviews. He alleged they had put their heads together while in custody on remand at the same jail to concoct the story.

The QC said: "The defence is that robbery is make-believe, a fairy story. For it to work, you would have to believe in magic. That's not the world we live in."

He said the jury had to trust their instincts over whether Mr Jones was reliable or whether he had put on a big act in the witness box.

Earlier Booth, a taxi driver, insisted in evidence that police had offered him a deal if he would identify the hijack gang. Det Sgt Andrew Price, the deputy senior investigating officer based in Worcester, ruled out any such deal.

The trial continues.

The charged and charges:

Currie, aged 36, of Bourneside Drive, and Cutler, 33, of Ellis Peters Drive, both Telford, deny conspiracy to rob and kidnap.

Seven other men deny similar charges. They are: Aaron Johnson, aged 19, his brother Simon Johnson, 21, and their father Frederick Johnson, 43, all of Culmington, Stirchley, Telford; Philip Price, 47, of West Road, Wellington; Terence Devine, 38, of Coronation Road, Walsall Wood, Walsall; Philip Dolphin, 40, of Bishopdale, Brookside, Telford, and Stephen Booth, 39, of Hurleybrook Way, Leegomery, Telford.

Cutler and Price deny possession of a firearm during a robbery.

Cutler and Simon Johnson also plead not guilty to the false imprisonent of an unnamed man on December 12, 2001, and possession of a firearm with intent to commit false imprisonment.

The jury have been told that Cutler, Price and Devine have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal the lorry.