No evidence offered in man's Securitas robbery trial

Prosecutors have offered no evidence against the last man accused of links to the record-breaking Securitas robbery, it emerged today.

Cage fighter and debt collector Jeremy Bailey, of Manor Road, Basingstoke, was due to face trial accused of money laundering later this month.

He was suspected of handling almost £1 million cash, some of which was linked to the £53 million Tonbridge heist, after he was caught in a police sting.

But a spokesman for Maidstone Crown Court said the case was dropped after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) offered no evidence.

The decision followed a guilty plea by company director Ian Bowrem, of Higher Metcombe, near Ottery St Mary, Devon, to money-laundering.

The two men went in the dock together earlier this year but the trial was abandoned on the second day for legal reasons.

Police arrested the pair after they met in a pub car park in Twickenham, south west London, on June 23, 2006.

Bowrem was stopped and found to have had almost £1 million in his Mercedes, £380,000 of which was linked to the Securitas raid four months earlier.

Mr Bailey's blue BMW was also stopped on the M3 heading west. £5,000 cash was found in the rear passenger footwell and two mobile phones.

The whereabouts of the proceeds of the Securitas robbery remain a mystery and is the subject of huge speculation in Britain's criminal underworld.

Police have only recovered £21 million of the haul and it is believed a lot of the money has been concealed overseas, including in the Middle East.

One couple were forced to appeal to gangsters to stop targeting them after rumours circulated cash was buried on their farm.

Fish farmer Kenneth Crow and his wife Valerie were subjected to a series of vicious attacks by masked raiders who thought they were stashing cash.

Martial arts expert Lee Murray, who masterminded the robbery, was jailed for 10 years in Rabat, Morocco, in June.

His lieutenant, Paul Allen, kick boxer Lea Rusha, car salesman Stuart Royle, unemployed Albanian Jetmir Bucpapa and garage owner Roger Coutts and inside man Emir Hysenaj have also been jailed.

The court spokesman said a sentencing date has not been set for Bowrem, who admitted the offence in February.