THE man accused of two ATM ram-raids, in which approximately

£90,000 was stolen, explained why forensic evidence to link him

to both crimes had been found.

Shane Delaney (37), of Lark Rise, Scotter, is alleged to

have used a JCB digger to rip a cash machine from the HSBC bank

at Kirton in Lindsey last November and an ATM from the Co-op at

Misterton in August 2007.

Delaney, who denies two burglaries, two offences of vehicle

taking and two counts of money laundering, is currently

standing trial at Hull Crown Court.

Yesterday he was asked by defending barrister Edward

Bindloss to explain how a cigarette end carrying his DNA was

found in a Ford Transit tipper truck used in the Misterton

raid.

Delaney said he and his wife Amy came across a pile of scrap

metal while out walking their dog at a derelict farm near

Messingham. He was banned from driving so asked a friend called

Gerard Langton if he would hire a vehicle so they could remove

the sheets of zinc and sell them.

Mr Langton, who came from South Yorkshire, hired a Ford

Transit tipper and drove across to North Lincolnshire. He,

Delaney and another man then loaded up the vehicle and took it

back to Delaney's address.

He said a cigarette he smoked in the vehicle must have still

been there when someone carried out the attack on the Co-op.

Michael Cranmer-Brown, prosecuting, asked him if it was 'just a

coincidence' one of his cigarette butts was found in the cab of

a vehicle used afterwards in a ram-raid.

Delaney conceded the hired vehicle must have been the one

used in the crime. But, he said: "I have not got anything to

hide. It was nothing whatsoever to do with me."

Speaking of the forensic evidence linking him to the raid on

the Kirton bank, Delaney said he had been in Laughton Woods

with his wife and her children when he came across the JCB and

the Toyota pick-up truck.

He said he had climbed into both vehicles, looking for

something to steal. He found tobacco in the cab of the digger

and rolled himself a cigarette. He then took a camera and an

electric drill from the pick-up. These, the court heard, were

later recovered from his home address.

He told jurors he had been at home drinking and taking drugs

with two friends on the night of the HSBC raid.

The trial continues.