A SECURITY van driver enjoyed a jet-set lifestyle after agreeing to be "the inside man" in an armed robbery which netted £6.6 million, a court was told.

Ex-policeman Graham Huckerby, 41, accepted a £1,000 bribe to allow masked gunmen to hijack his bullet and bomb-proof Securicor vehicle, it was claimed.

The robbers snatched £4 million in cash and more than £2 million in cheques before leaving Huckerby tied-up with tape and handcuffed to railings, a jury heard.

He later told police he had been kidnapped and held against his will.

But Martin Steiger QC prosecuting said after the raid in July 1995 outside the Midland Bank Clearing Centre in Salford, Huckerby suddenly enjoyed a jet-set lifestyle and paid off his debts.

Mr Steiger said police became suspicious of Huckerby's kidnap account and engaged an undercover policeman, known only as 'Barry', to go to pubs and bookmakers where he befriended James Power, one of Huckerby's accomplices.

It emerged Power, 58, was Huckerby's handler, added the QC. He said the undercover operation was designed to see if Power would organise an identical robbery with a Securicor driver as an "inside man", and Power took the bait.

Power, of Hornby Street, Bury and Huckerby, of Clifton Road, Prestwich, deny conspiracy to rob with others.

William Goulden, 46, of London, who is accused of involvement in the theft of the Transit van, and Derek Wilson, 31, also of London, deny conspiracy to rob. The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.