wife and son the night of the crime.

George Brown, 31, of Stovell Bay Road Pembroke, denies attempting to steal a handbag containing a purse, credit cards, and a $100 in cash from the visiting English woman on May 30 last year.

He also pleaded not guilty to wilfully and knowingly making a false report to Police.

In December the Court heard from English couple James and Peggy Richardson of Cheshire, England.

Richardson, 56, told the Court how he and his wife were walking along Woodbourne Avenue in Pembroke at 11 p.m. on May 30 when a man on a motorbike rode up, asked his wife the time, and attempted to snatch her bag and speed off.

He had just pulled the culprit from his bike when taxi driver, Bernard Woods, arrived on the scene and called 911 on his radio. Brown was later arrested.

Brown took the stand in the Magistrates' Court yesterday and said that on the evening of May 30 he left home at about 7 p.m. to visit a friend.

"I left his house and went to Flanagan's pub on my way home. While I was there I had a few drinks and talked to the people I knew who worked there. I also watched the end of the NBA basketball game on the television,'' Brown said.

He added that when he left the bar at about 9 p.m. to go home he realised that he had misplaced his bike keys.

"I went back into the bar and asked if anyone had seen them but they just laughed at me because they thought I misplaced them because I was drunk,'' Brown said.

He added: "I did not find my keys and I knew I had been drinking so I thought it best to leave the bike and take a taxi home.'' He said he borrowed his father's car the next morning to come into town and get his bike.

"But when I went to Front Street to find my bike it was not there. I went back home and notified the Police that my bike was stolen.

"Later on I received a phone call from Sgt. Ralph Furbert who told me they had my bike and I would have to come down to the Police Station because the bike had been involved in three robberies,'' Brown said.

He added: "Sgt. Furbert also told me that I looked like the person who had committed the robberies.

"When I went to the station, I told him that I was at home and my bike was in Hamilton. Sgt. Furbert asked me if I had an alibi for the night before and I told him to call my wife at work but no one answered at her work place.

"The Police released me and I went to my wife's job because I was amazed that no one answered the phone. I wanted to tell her what had happened but she was not there.

"They told me that they had information that I was on drugs and then they took me to the Police compound to identify my bike,'' Brown said.

He said he saw a Police mechanic start the bike easily putting two wires together.

When questioned by Police prosecutor Sgt. Kenrick James as to how he received abrasions to his knee and leg Brown replied: "When I was working at Gifford Stanton's house clearing out the gutters on his roof I was coming down the ladder and slipped.'' The trial continues on February 10 before Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis.