A MAN suspected of being involved in the Wolverley Post Office robbery ripped up his jeans and stuffed them down a lavatory at a police station, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The pieces were retrieved by a plumber, said Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, but immersion in water made it impossible to establish if there had been traces of blood.

The prosecution alleges that Wayne Davies was in the getaway car which transported dying raider Scott Griffiths from the Post Office after he had been stabbed by postmaster Richard Watkins.

Davies, who denies being on the raid, claimed he had ripped up the trousers because he was in a temper.

Davies, aged 26, of Himley Road, and Michelle Sykes, 21, of Sudderley Gardens, both Dudley, Neal Frost, 33, of George Street, Wordsley, 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 prosecution alleges the four were in a gang which targeted business premises in the West Midlands between April and June last year. Davies and Frost were arrested after the failed robbery attempt at Wolverley in which 28-year-old Scott Griffiths, of Blaze Park, Wall Heath, was fatally stabbed.

Davies denied being involved in any of the robberies.

Frost told police that he was dog-sitting at the home of Scott Griffiths on the day of the Wolverley PO raid.

He was telephoned that Scott had been injured.

There was a knock on the door and a man explained where Scott was in Forge Lane, Wall Heath. He saw the body in the back seat.

Sykes was arrested by police near the Spar shop in Tenbury Wells soon after it had been raided.

She claimed that she had been "on the game" in Kidderminster and that she had been dumped by a customer after an argument about payment.

The trial continues.