Two men have gone on trial accused of snatching a cashbox containing £20,000 during a street robbery two years ago.

Securitas guard Susan Phillips had just collected the money from the Kashmir Travel premises in Barkerend Road, Bradford, when she saw a man armed with a foot-long stick running towards her.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the robber, who was wearing a balaclava, shouted at her to give him the box and then hit her across the right arm as she held it out to him.

Prosecutor Gerald Hendron said a second man, also wearing a balaclava, snatched the box from her and both men escaped in a stolen Ford Escort.

Mr Hendron said the vehicle was abandoned in nearby Maudsley Street and when police arrived on the scene they recovered the cashbox still in it.

Mr Hendron said a red dye inside the box had been activated when it was opened and police also seized various items including a balaclava with traces of saliva on it.

Mr Hendron told the jury that DNA tests later matched the saliva to samples taken from the mouth of 21-year-old Mohammed Khan, who was arrested six months after the robbery.

A second man, Steven Barker, also 21, had been arrested a month after the attack and Mr Hendron said that in his girlfriend's home police discovered a hat with eye-holes cut into it.

He claimed traces of red dye were found on the hat which were indistinguishable from that used in the cashbox.

Barker, of Moore Avenue, Bradford, and Khan, of Fourth Avenue, Bradford, have both denied robbery.

When he was questioned by police Barker denied being involved in the robbery and said he may have been working with his father at the time of the incident.

He also denied knowing Khan.

Khan maintained his right not to answer questions during his interview.

The case continues.

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