ALLEGED robbers demanded 'money and drugs' while posing as undercover police, a court heard.

Darren Smith, 31, of Selsey Close and co-defendant Paul Gill, aged 29, of Coronation Road, Littleworth, near Worcester, deny robbing a man of £10 and a set of car keys. Jonathan Shire, aged 28, of Mulberry Terrace, Worcester, has admitted the robbery against a man in a Renault Clio on July 24 last year in Kenwood Avenue, Tolladine, Worcester.

Darren Smith, said from the witness box at Worcester Crown Court yesterday 'I'm the one suffering', put in custody for a crime he did not commit. One of the robbers is alleged to have shouted: "This is CID! Give me all your money and your drugs!"

All three men had been together at the Texaco garage in Tolladine Road shortly before the robbery and were arrested together the following day at an address in Windermere Drive, Warndon, where Gill was heard by officers to say: "I only rob drug dealers."

Smith, who had 45 previous convictions for theft or similar offences, had been taking crack cocaine and cocaine and had been to the garage to fill up his car and buy beer and cigarettes, later pulling into Kenwood Avenue to smoke some crack Gill had found. He said Shire told him to stop the car and got out and he heard 'a commotion, screaming and shouting'. Smith wanted to 'get out of the situation' and drove away, leaving Shire behind. "I was acting quite selfish. I had been drinking and taking drugs and did not want to be around a commotion if police turned up" he said. He said Gill shouted something but he could not hear what it was but claimed his friend never stepped away from the passenger side of the car, denying that either of them was present when the robbery took place, only hearing about it later. He said: "I'm not going to sit here and get blamed for something I haven't done."

He said he had later driven back in an attempt to find Shire, something he would not have done if he had been 'the getaway driver'. Smith told he jury: "I always go guilty if I've done something wrong. I'm not a coward. If you go guilty you get a third off your sentence. I know this."

In cross-examination Michael Aspinall, prosecuting, told Smith he had done everything he could to distance himself and his friend from the robbery. Smith said 'it's not true' but Mr Aspinall described his account as 'weasel words to get yourself out of a mess'. Smith said: "I have spent six months in prison for this. I'm a victim too." The trial continues.