A bus driver fought back tears as he told how he was robbed at gunpoint in a terrifying late night attack.

Kevin Ore, a former driver for Stagecoach in Oxford, told Oxford Crown Court his ordeal began in December last year after he dropped off his last passengers on the Blackbird Leys Estate in Oxford. Mr Ore said he was flagged down by a group of men. A black man and a white man got on the bus.

Mr Ore said: "The white lad was telling me he wanted my money and that the black lad had a gun. While he was doing that he was reaching down the side of the door because there is usually a cash tray. He started panicking a bit when he couldn't find anything."

Mr Ore said the man's tone was threatening. He said: "I can still picture it.

"All I saw was the barrel of the gun." Aaron Rodriguez, 18, of Moorbank, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, said he did take part in the robbery - and also carried out a mugging and a handbag-snatch - but claimed he was forced to do so by another man to whom he owed money and who had threatened him with a gun.

Rodriguez, who gave himself up to police, denies theft, robbery, attempted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.

The case continues.

Story date: Thursday 22 April

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