A man accused of robbing a nursing home claimed he sobbed as he watched the raid from outside, a court heard.

Daniel Lewis, 21, said another man got in through a window but carried out the robbery alone when he could not let him in.

Lewis told police he saw the raid on the Baytree Nursing Home in Worthing from outside and added: "I was crying my eyes out - I couldn't believe what I had done."

His wife Emma, then his girlfriend, had been made to go with them and was sleeping in a car nearby, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

The Lewises, who have since moved from Meadow Close in Durrington to Pennyfields in Felpham, are said to have carried out the raids together.

Daniel Lewis told police in interview his wife had been at home when he was meant to hold up the Alldays late night store in Goring earlier the same evening.

He had "bottled it" and his accomplice took the gun from him. He initially denied going into the shop but admitted it after being shown CCTV footage. He said he had not said anything to the victim.

He also said he remained outside the Madeira Nursing Home in Worthing while the other man went in with a gun and baseball bat.

He said: "I never robbed it - I was going to but couldn't do it. Butterflies in my stomach."

Daniel Lewis and his stepfather Kevin Isted, 43, of Kingsley Close, East Worthing, deny robbing Elliot Taylor of cash and cigarettes worth £240 on April 14 2000 and having an imitation firearm at Alldays in Boxgrove Parade, Goring.

Daniel and Emma Lewis, 20, deny robbing Julie Harding of £5,697.62 on April 15 last year and having an imitation .177 calibre pistol on the same occasion at the Baytree Nursing Home, Highfield Road, Worthing.

Both also deny attempted robbery on May 3, 2000 and having the imitation pistol and stealing a handbag and contents on the same date belonging to Carole O'Neil, at the Madeira Nursing Home.

Christine Laing, prosecuting, told the jury Isted admitted an act intending to pervert the course of justice. She said the gun was a pistol capable of firing pellets but was legally described as an imitation.

The hearing continues.