A FORMER employee at a Bradford service station has been cleared of plotting to rob it.

Kevin Persuad was accused of giving inside information to a gang that enabled it to snatch £17,900 takings from Great Horton Service Station on August 11 last year.

Persaud, 22, of Thornton Road, Bradford, was found not guilty of conspiracy to rob by a jury at Bradford Crown Court late this afternoon.

He told the court he was "tortured and beaten" into falsely confessing to the police that he was involved in the crime.

Salim Rahman, who runs the filling station with his son, Fahim Rahman, was robbed as he drove along Horton Grange Road to the bank at about 10.20am.

Persaud was alleged to have told the gang about the weekly trip to deposit the money and alerted them when Mr Rahman set off in his car that morning.

He told the jury he was interrogated in the office at the service station by Fahim Rahman.

He said he was slapped, kicked, punched and hit with a hammer by a group of men until he agreed to admit involvement in the robbery.

"I was told 'you were the one who took the money and took part in the robbery'," he said.

He agreed to take responsibility to stop them torturing him.

Persaud claimed the men made him confess on a video and took his wallet and withdrew £380 from his bank account.

He said he was too afraid to tell the police what really happened.

Fahim Rahman and Persaud were good friends before the robbery, the court heard.

They met at the Islamic Community Centre in Nelson Street, Bradford, and Persaud was given a job at the service station.

He helped with trips to the cash and carry, banking and in the garage workshop.

Persaud had left his job at the garage several months before the robbery.