A FORMER girlfriend of a man accused of being involved in the failed armed robbery at Wolverley Post Office claimed he made a telephone threat from prison.

Elaine Price told a jury at Worcester Crown Court that Neal Frost had telephoned her at home last Sunday and questioned her about the evidence she was to give.

He suggested she might "duck and dive" and not go to court and his solicitor was trying to get evidence to discredit her. He also asked if she wanted to be his friend or enemy when he was released - which she interpreted as a threat, the court heard.

Miss Price said she had been telling lies when she gave Frost an alibi for the night before the Wolverley raid, in which 28-year-old Scott Griffiths was stabbed to death by postmaster Richard Watkins. She had done this because she did not want to get involved in the police investigation.

Cross-examined by Ian Alexander, for Frost, she denied she had changed her evidence because she had found out another girlfriend was visiting Frost in prison. Conscience, not jealousy, had made her change, she said.

Frost, 33, of George Street, Wordsley, Wayne Davies, 26, of Himley Road, Dudley, Michelle Sykes, 21, of Sudderley Gardens, Milking Bank, Gornal, and Patrick Crane, 38, of no fixed address, deny conspiracy to rob.

Davies and Frost also deny having a sawn-off shotgun when committing an offence.

The jury heard Griffiths, whose body was found in a stolen car near his home in Wall Heath, had died from a stab wound to the heart. Blood on two jackets found in a car owned by Sykes matched his DNA profile.

Interviewed after he gave himself up to police, Frost maintained he was dogsitting for Griffiths at the time of the robbery. Griffiths had gone off with two men, whom he would not name, and he was alerted later about the abandoned car with the body inside.

The prosecution alleges a series of armed raids last summer ended with the failed attempt at Wolverley.

The trial continues.