A man accused of shooting a guard in an armed raid claimed he boasted of the crime on his honeymoon to impress his wife.

John Dunlop, 43, allegedly confessed to his wife and even counted out the proceeds of the raid in front of her, the Old Bailey heard.

Detectives cracked an "unsolvable crime" when Dunlop's wife Phillipa walked out on him and agreed to give evidence against him.

She claims Dunlop told her how he prepared and executed the brutal raid six days after they married.

Dunlop, of Lansdowne Place, Hove, denies taking part in the robbery in which Securicor guard Anthony Holloway was shot in the leg when he refused to hand over £25,000 he was delivering to a building society.

Instead he said he told his wife the story to make himself look big.

The couple were honeymooning at a hotel in Ashwell, Hertfordshire, when Dunlop said he showed his wife a newspaper cutting about the raid.

He said he ran errands for underworld contacts and they gave him the cutting in an East London pub several days after the robbery.

"It actually made me appear to be someone else rather than just talk," Dunlop insisted. "She liked that sort of life - the excitement."

Explaining his boasts, Dunlop said: "I did not plan in advance to do this. I got drinking and I had drugs and I did it on that night".

Until he saw the newspaper report, Dunlop claimed, he did not know his Toyota Carina was used as the getaway car in the robbery.

He said he was not worried when criminal associates pointed out the vehicle belonged to him.

"I had not done it and I felt safe in that knowledge and also with my wife," he said.

He denied she saw him planning the raid at home and his false confession was "the first time she had ever heard about the robbery from me."

Dunlop could not recall what he did on the day of the raid.

He also denied counting the proceeds of the raid at the dinner table.

He told the jury he still loved his wife, and said: "Seeing her over the last two days has upset me more than anything. It was all lies. It was a sham. It must have been. She slept in my bed and told me she loved me and then she had tea with police officers."

Dunlop is said to be the masked gunman who shot Mr Holloway as he delivered cash to the Halifax in Hornchurch High Street in August, 1999.

He denies robbery, possession of a firearm, wounding with intent, and handling stolen goods. The trial continues.