A man accused of taking part in an old-fashioned warehouse robbery pleaded his innocence yesterday, insisting that he was a pop star, not an armed robber.

Barry Hibberd denies being a member of an armed gang of six that stole £1.75 million in a raid on the Menzies World Cargo warehouse at Heathrow in February 2004.

He admitted a series of previous convictions for wounding, affray, threatening behaviour, possession of a bladed article and taking a vehicle without consent, but protested that he could not have been involved in the Heathrow crime because he was a singer, not a thief, by profession.

He attempted to prove his point by treating the jury at the Central Criminal Court to a colourful history of his showbusiness career.

Mr Hibberd, 40, from Shepherds Bush, West London, is charged with nine counts of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life, four of possessing ammunition without certificates, one of possessing a prohibited weapon, and one of attempting grievous bodily harm with intent.

The alleged hardware included a Baikal self-loading pistol, a .25 Colt pistol, a 9mm pistol and a sub-machinegun.

But, the accused asked the court, how could a man whose voice was sometimes mistaken for that of a black woman be involved in such nefarious deeds? “I’m a singer. I’m a performer,” he told the jury, who could not suppress their laughter at his performance.

“I was in bands. I started off doing covers and that, and then I got into a couple of bands. I was off my nut most of the time, touring and doing the university circuit.

“When I started off it was the late Eighties and early Nineties. I was mainly doing commercial soul music. Then I was in a couple of bands that were more rocky.” Mr Hibberd could not remember the names of the bands he was in, but continued: “I got to know quite a few well known people. Then I made a couple of dance records. I made quite a few quid out of that; I thought I was a pop star for a couple of years.”

The connection with a charge of armed robbery was not yet clear. Mr Hibberd carried on regardless.

“I had quite a high falsetto voice. The last few records I released, they thought it was a black woman. It’s a selling point but it’s a bit embarrassing. Some people thought I was a bit woo-woo-like, as well — not that I’ve got anything against gay people.”

He used to play in Madame Jojo’s, a well-known transvestite club in Soho, Central London. “What a blinder that was,” he said.

Mr Hibberd said that he had quit pop music when he became bald. “It’s a young man’s game, innit?” But he claimed that he still did voiceovers; leaning towards the witness box microphone, he growled: “Some of them are there to hurt you, some of them are there to help you.”

It was, apparently, a line from the film Transformers, and an example of Mr Hibberd’s current — and wholly legitimate — work.

“I do stuff like that,” he told the jury, without explaining how that would prove that he had nothing to do with an armed robbery.

The second prong of his defence was to admit past bad behaviour, including stabbing another youth at the age of 15. “He was a bully so I plunged him. Six foot four he was, and I was only a skinny little thing, so I stabbed him. Shouldn’t have done it, but there you go. Sorry about that.”

Mr Hibberd also admitted to being a football hooligan, and blamed drink for one particular fight, from which he escaped by stealing a car. “I chinned this geezer spark out, but he had a couple of mates so I slipped. I thought it was gonna come on me and I was walking past a car with the keys in and I took it. Just another muggy thing I’ve done because I’ve had a couple of drinks.”

Asked if he was a robber, Hibberd said: “Of course I’m not; I’m a singer. I’ve never made any money from crime. Always worked for a living. Never signed on.” Mr Hibberd was 39 at the start of the long trial, and noted ruefully that he had spent his 40th birthday in Belmarsh prison. “They say life begins at 40; I hope it doesn’t in this case,” he told the court.

He is on trial with Peter Blake, 55, of Westbourne Park, West London, and John Twomey, 59, of New Milton, Hampshire. All three deny conspiracy to rob.

The trial continues.

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