AN alleged drugs courier was accused of making up his defence story by a prosecutor, when he took the stand at Worcester Crown Court.

Liam Pearson, of Aylton Road, Liverpool, is one of eight defendants accused of being part of a conspiracy to bring tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine into Worcester between September 6, 2011 and October 6, 2015.

The 51-year-old drove from Liverpool to Selbourne Road West, on June 23, 2015, and on his way back his Ford Galaxy was stopped by police who seized nearly £30,000 in cash, found in a pillow case.

Pearson claimed his journey was to collect £20,000 in cash for cars sold, for a man named John Moorcroft.

But prosecuting, John Butterfield QC highlighted the first time he had mentioned this had been in court, having not answered any questions in police interview, or included this in his defence statement.

Mr Butterfield said: "You kept your account under wraps. You did it deliberately. You were running drugs, weren't you?"

Pearson replied: "Absolutely not. I'm just as much as a drug dealer as you are."

Pearson was questioned at the length about a phone found on a passenger seat.

It was described as a "dirty phone" used on drug deals by Mr Butterfield, pointing out it was later found to have links to his co-accused.

But Pearson rejected this, repeatedly saying "it was not his phone", and suggested the phone had fallen out of Mr Moorcroft's pocket.

Mr Butterfield put it to him that other times when police records showed he had made the trip to Worcester, on these occasions the phone - which was sporadically used - had suddenly been in use.

But Pearson said this had been a coincidence, and reiterated it was not his phone.

At various times Mr Butterfield questioned the truth of Pearson's evidence.

In one exchange, Mr Butterfield said: "You are making this up as you go along."

Pearson replied: "I'm not making this up at all."

When Mr Butterfield put it to him that after counting the money and realising it was "dramatically over" by £10,000, Pearson said: "I thought something weird was going on.

"I did not ring him (Mr Moorcroft) - I was meeting him anyway."

Tiffany Porter of Hollymount Road, Tolladine also later took to the stand.

The 21-year-old said she never been arrested in her life, was not in work because of the trial, and said she never been involved in a conspiracy to supply drugs.

The trial continues.