A convicted burglar has told a jury that a man accused of being his accomplice in an £11,000 smash and grab raid in Worcester is innocent.

Stephen Cherry said he targeted Dunn's jewellers in Chapel Walk, CrownGate, with a friend who he refused to name.

But he insisted that when he left a city flat to carry out the crime, 26-year-old Anthony Moxon had already left the same premises to buy cigarettes at a garage.

Worcester Crown Court heard that Cherry pleaded guilty to the break-in and is serving a prison sentence for it.

He said: "I won't name the person I did it with but I don't think it's fair that someone else should be sent to prison for it."

Moxon, of Eastbank Drive, Worcester, denies burglary at the shop on Monday, March 31, this year.

The prosecution claims both men were arrested after a tip-off to police. Most of the stolen jewellery was recovered from the flat in Nightingale House, Stanley Road.

Both Moxon and Cherry were wearing rings taken in the break-in and police found glass fragments in Moxon's clothing which matched the broken window.

Cherry claimed he had only met Moxon two or three times at the flat. The tenant was a girl they both knew and Cherry had slept there for a few weeks.

He armed himself with a hammer and his accomplice carried an axe. They smashed two holes in a display window to grab jewellery.

Cherry said when he returned to the flat at around 12.30am, Moxon was already there. He claimed Moxon bought the £750 watch from his accomplice for £50.

Cross-examined by Pardeep Tiwana, prosecuting, Cherry admitted he answered "no comment" when asked by police about Moxon.

Mr Tiwana accused him of telling "a pack of lies" to help Moxon and added: "You went 'no comment' because you knew he was involved with you in this burglary. There was no other friend."

The jury heard that both men had graze marks on their arms on arrest. It was alleged they were caused by reaching through the broken window into the jewellery display.

The trial continues.