Mars bar warehouse supervisor Martin Keys was described as a "bit of a Jack the Lad character - very confident, very cocky", a court heard.

The description of the man, charged with masterminding a £548,000 plot to steal chocolate bars from his employers, came from security guard James Lakner.

Keys denies conspiracy to steal, two charges of theft and one of attempted theft. His girlfriend, 25-year-old Emma Smiley, of Bicester, denies two "money laundering" charges -

She denies has pleaded not guilty to assisting Keys to retain the benefit of crime by accepting a payment of £54,750 into her First Direct bank account and by allowing the £165,000 Stow-on-the-Wold cottage to be bought in her name. Mr Lakner, who works at the Tibbett and Britten chocolate bar warehouse in Bicester, was (THURS NOV 5) giving evidence at Gloucester Crown Court against Keys, 31, who denies conspiracy to steal confectionery.

The prosecution claims Keys, of Vale Cottages, Wyck Hill, Stow-on-the Wold, abused his position of trust as manager at the warehouse to ship out eight lorry loads of chocolate to a fellow conspirator.

It is alleged Keys, 31, then started flashing money around - even buying a £21,000 Saab car with a pile of cash from a Tesco carrier bag.

Mr Lakner said he recalled chatting to Mr Keys about the smart new car. "He said he had saved up the money before his divorce and spent it on the car so his wife couldn't get it," said Mr Lakner. He said Keys seemed to fancy himself as "something of a ladies' man" and he made no secret of "trumpeting" news of his purchase of the Saab. He was a bit of a Jack the Lad, very confident, very cocky," said Mr Lakner.

"He showed his car off to me and he told me he was spending money so his wife couldn't get it."

The prosecution allege that Mr Keys had a variety of excuses for his sudden wealth - including lottery wins, casino wins and an inheritance.

But Simon Brand, prosecuting, alleged all the reasons were lies and that Keys was really getting his money from the large scale chocolate thefts.

It was alleged Keys made use of the computer-controlled systems at the warehouse to create bogus orders of Mars bars, which were then collected by lorries sent by his co-conspirator, known as "Sonny".

Clerk Amanda Bocker said she once returned to her desk to find Keys sitting at the computer apparently trying to create details of a load. But he was doing it on the wrong screen and could not get the computer to accept the load number he was entering in, she said. "When she pointed out his mistake he told her he was "just practising," she added.

He then exited her screen and left the desk - and she noticed that he had not used his own password. He had accessed the system by using the name of a colleague, Bill Trenchard.

Security guard John McCabe told the jury of an occasion on April 26 last year when Mr Keys drove into the warehouse complex at 6.36pm and stayed on the premises for just 11 minutes.

He said that on other occasions Mr Keys gave him the reference numbers of two lorries which were due at the warehouse and told him to contact him by radio when they arrived.

He then gave instructions to the lorries to go to particular bays where he waited for them.

The reason he gave for this was that he was going to do a full check of the lorries' contents - but the procedure he used was unusual, said Mr McCabe. Huw Davies, defending, suggested to warehouse operations manager Gordon McWilliams that he noticed Keys had plenty of money and did not look beyond him for a culprit. Mr McWilliams denied the suggestion.

He said Keys was the only worker on the premises in April last year when the instructions were entered into the computer that had led to the theft.

The trial continues.

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