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A MAN accused of two violent armed robberies where victims were kidnapped at gunpoint has denied being part of the three-m an gang involved.

Ian Parkinson said he could not explain why a DNA sample found in the rear of a bank manager's car had been matched with him.

He denied breaking into the car and then bursting out of the boot area into the car as the manager drove to work.

The court has been told the woman bank manager and her passenger were then forced to go to her branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Litttle Lever and hand over cash. The prosecution says it was similar to a raid on Kearsley sub post office. Bolton Crown Court heard that the two robberies netted the gang £372,000 in cash.

Giving evidence, Parkinson said he had suffered a fractured skull when he was assaulted in 1998 outside a nightclub in Old Trafford.

He said his sense of taste and smell as well as his memory had been affected.

Parkinson told the court he could not remember what he had been doing on September 11, the day of the bank robbery. He said he had since been told by his friends that he was at home alone in the morning and met his girlfriend for lunch.

Parkinson, aged 27, of Gerald Drive, and 22-year-old David Richard Cullen, of Heaton Street, both Salford, deny five charges of kidnapping, two counts of robbery and two charges of possessing an imitation firearm during the course of a robbery.

(Proceeding)