A man charged with robbing a bank told police he had heard others talking about the plot but did not want to take part.

However, defence lawyer Charles Richardson suggested the comments came only after officers teased the possibility of witness protection in an unrecorded conversation.

Gregory Tucker, 24, has denied robbing the Bank of Butterfield in St George’s on June 9 last year.

Prosecutors have claimed Mr Tucker threatened staff with an imitation Beretta pistol before escaping with a sum of cash.

The court previously heard that investigators found a fragment of the imitation firearm — a spray-painted toy gun — inside the bank, and that it had a strong DNA match with Mr Tucker.

In his initial police interview, Mr Tucker denied ever having contact with an imitation firearm. However, after being confronted with the DNA evidence recovered from the scene in a second interview, he told officers that he had found a BB gun and sold it to a stranger weeks before the robbery.

As the trial continued yesterday, the court heard that shortly after an interview with police, Mr Tucker offered them information about the robbery.

Detective Sergeant Kenton Trott said that, while they were still in the interview room, Mr Tucker spoke about a man named “Kenneth” who lived in St George’s. He said he had heard Kenneth talk about plans to rob the bank, but that he did not want to take part in the robbery.

Several hours later the officers reinterviewed Mr Tucker again about the comments.

However, in cross-examination, Mr Richardson suggested to the officers that during the unrecorded conversation the officers had told the accused he could have a “new life” if he told the police who was responsible.

Mr Richardson also said that, according to Sergeant Trott’s notes, he spoke with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Cindy Clarke — the person in charge of the witness protection programme — that same afternoon.

Sergeant Trott responded that there were no references made to a “new life” or any offers of witness protection, explaining that he called Ms Clarke because she was the prosecutor responsible for the case at the time and he wanted to give her the new information.

He accepted that Ms Clarke instructed him to carry out another cautioned interview, saying: “Obviously any information he gave me, I can only give my interpretation of what he told me.

“If it’s in an audio-visual interview, then it’s his words coming out of his mouth.”

Sergeant Trott also told the court that they were able to identify the “Kenneth” described by Mr Tucker and that someone spoke to him about the robbery, but he was not arrested.

The trial continues.

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