A FACTORY boss claims he made and packed tablets for a Bolton man without knowing they were supposed to be steroids bound for sale on the black market.

David Sterland told Northampton Crown Court: "We had nothing to hide. We were just doing the job we were employed to do."

Sterland, 53, of Husbands Bosworth, Leics, denies conspiracy to defraud people who might be induced to buy tablets by pretending they were Pronabol - 5, an anabolic steroid.

Harvey Simpson, 39, of King Street, Desborough, Northants, has also pleaded not guilty to the offence said to have occurred in December 1999.

William Bates, 23, formerly of Beaumont Drive, Bolton, who has admitted the conspiracy charge is awaiting sentence.

According to the prosecution he is the brains behind the scam.

Giving evidence, Sterland said he was a managing director of Swift Products, Mill Farm, Great Cransley, Northants, a company which did contracts for customers including the filling of aerosol cans. Simpson was his right hand man.

Sterland said in the summer of 1999 he was contacted by Bates who asked whether he could package some tablets for him. Bates would supply the tablets and the necessary machinery. But in the end they finished making the tablets themselves after a trial and error process before arriving at the right formula.

They were to be paid £7,000 for the work.

Sterland said: "I asked what the tablets were. I did not want to get involved in anything criminal. But he said they were harmless." Asked whether anything was said about where the tablets were going, Sterland said: "No specific address was given. Bates said he had contacts in India and he intimated they were going to be shipped abroad."

Sterland said he was never knowingly involved in any conspiracy to defraud people.

Earlier, prosecutor Andrew Wheeler told the jury that when the tablets, which had been labelled as steroids, were analysed the main ingredient was found to be glucose.

He alleged the plan was to sell the fake steroids on the black market where a price of up to £90,000 could be reached.

Apart from their legitimate medical use, anabolic steroids are taken by athletes to enhance their performance.

(Proceeding)