A SIDCUP-BASED cage fighter has been named at the Old Bailey as the “leading light” in planning Britain’s biggest ever cash robbery.

Lee Murray was living with his partner and two children in Onslow Drive, Sidcup, when the Securitas depot in Tonbridge was raided in February 2006, and £53m was stolen.

During the heist, depot manager Colin Dixon and his wife and child were kidnapped by the robbers and held hostage, while 14 depot staff were terrorised at gunpoint.

Four days after the raid, Murray, aged 29, whose real name is Lamrani, fled first to Amsterdam and then to Morocco, with fellow fighter Paul Allen, aged 30, where the court heard they intended to live off the robbery proceeds.

Allen, from Chatham, Kent, and Michael Demetris, aged 32, of Bromley Common, Bromley, are now on trial at the Old Bailey and deny conspiracy to rob, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to possess firearms.

Murray, who is half Moroccan, was arrested in June 2006 in Morocco and remains in jail there.

Allen was extradited from Morocco to the UK earlier this year.

Prosecutor Sir John Nutting alleged Murray planned the robbery with the help of Allen, a longstanding friend.

He claimed Murray bought mobile phones, SIM cards, covert surveillance cameras, police uniforms and equipment which were used to spy on the depot and Mr Dixon’s home in the run-up to the robbery.

Sir John said vital clues about the planning of the robbery were retrieved when Murray crashed his yellow Ferrari a few weeks before the heist.

Although Murray fled the accident scene, his 360 Modena was impounded by police.

When suspicion fell on Murray, police examined a mobile phone found in the crashed car.

They retrieved a conversation between Murray and one of the people already convicted of the raid, where they discussed the pinhole camera being used by the gang’s inside man.

Sir John said the conversation had taken place two days after Murray and Allen had visited a specialist surveillance equipment company to buy the camera.

The pair also discussed the robbery itself and mentioned other gang members.

Murray is alleged to have been one of the gunmen who stormed the depot and one of the bogus policemen who kidnapped depot manager Mr Dixon and his family.

DNA links to Murray were found on discarded material used to make the disguises worn by the robbers.

Only £20m of the robbery proceeds has been recovered.

Murray, who claims Moroccan citizenship, is still awaiting a court decision on extradition proceedings.

The trial continues.