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A LORRY driver spun a series of lies to dupe police into thinking he was the victim of a £1m cigarette raid, rather than the “inside man”, a court heard.
Brian Fogg’s cargo was stolen as he drove it from Birkenhead to Humberside.
But prosecutor Owen Edwards told Chester crown court yesterday he was in on the job – as well as an earlier mock-heist – and received cash payments from a gang.
Fogg, of Draperfield, Chorley, denies two counts of conspiracy to steal.
His 45-year-old wife Janet Fogg, also of Draperfield, Chorley, denies two counts in relation to allegedly helping him launder the proceeds.
Police found class one HGV driver Fogg at 7.33pm on August 8, 2008, bound and gagged with sticky tape near Immingham docks in Humberside.
The 47-year-old had picked up the cigarettes from Birkenhead Docks and was due to take them to Amsterdam. But jurors heard dad-of-three Fogg told police he had been subjected to a terrifying, knife-point raid by hijackers on the M53.
Mr Edwards told the jury: “The hijack was treated very seriously by the police and it attracted media attention. It was at that stage the pack of cards fell around Mr Fogg.
“His former employer contacted police to indicate that Mr Fogg had been the victim of another high-value or significant hijack almost exactly one year before.
“As the investigation changed course to consider whether Mr Fogg was the inside man in the hijack, the evidence against him started to stand up. In the course of the investigation the defendant lied again, again and again.”
Mr Edwards said a Cheshire Police probe found DNA evidence to prove Fogg had tied himself up in Humberside.
He also apparently lied about his mobile being taken by the raiders, along with a distinctive “Foggy” number plate.
Confronted with this Fogg changed his story and said there was no raid, but that he was forced into going along with the theft because of threats made against his family by a gang.
Mr Edwards concluded: “Is Mr Fogg the unluckiest lorry driver in Britain or is he the ‘inside man’? Is Mrs Fogg the most trusting of wives or is she the willing beneficiary to Mr Fogg’s crimes?”
Fogg is also standing trial for allegedly faking a raid with others that saw £300,000 stolen from his lorry when it was parked near Wolverhampton.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...-faked-cigarette-raid-100252-24747689/2/
