A 21-year-old man accused of involvement in a violent armed robbery told a court he had ‘a sense of fear that something was wrong’ on the day of the alleged offence.

Samir Lammali of Alton Road, Bournemouth, told the town’s crown court he was in a car parked near remote Snailsbreach Farm at Bloxworth on the day Leonard Langdown, 78, was allegedly subjected to a two-hour ordeal and robbed of £4,000, 19 guns and a pick-up truck.

But when asked whether he was at the farm, he replied: “No, never.”

He added: “I just wanted to go back home.”

Lammali, 22-year-old Michael Seddon from Bootle in Merseyside and Jake Borland, 21, of Beswick Avenue, Bournemouth are accused of robbing Mr Langdown in his home on March 24 this year.

The elderly farmer is alleged to have suffered physical and mental abuse. This included threats to slice off his fingers and claims the robbers would stab his dog to death.

Lammali said he, Seddon and Borland followed a car driven by 43-year-old Caleb Holland of Bedford Road South, Poole, to the Bloxworth area but denied going into the property and said he hitched a lift home.

Seddon has already told the court he waited in his car in a lane near the farmhouse while he believed others were carrying out a burglary at an unoccupied property.

Holland is also charged with robbery but is not said to have been at the farmhouse.

A fifth man, Ryan Dear, 21, of Frensham Close, Bournemouth, is accused of handling stolen goods in relation to guns from the farmhouse, which were later discovered at Kinson Common.

The five men deny all the charges against them and the trial continues.