A DETECTIVE yesterday denied police had "stitched up" a disqualified driver who served four years in prison after he knocked over and killed a young girl.

Detective Constable Scott Denham told Teesside Crown Court the decision to charge Colin Meek had been based on evidence and not his previous conviction.

Meek, 38, is accused of being the getaway driver during a ram raid at Woolworths, in Barnard Castle, County Durham. He has already pleaded guilty to burglary, but denies driving while disqualified and dangerous driving.

The jury was told that Meek was jailed for four years after he knocked down and killed a girl in 2002.

He was disqualified from driving following the incident, the court heard.

Yesterday, Meek's barrister, Adrian Dent, asked Det Con Denham, who was the investigating officer in the ram raid case, if Meek had said: "You stitched me up."

The detective replied: "That is one thing, members of the jury, we are not trying to do."

Mr Dent asked Det Con Denham, of Bishop Auckland CID, if he had said to Meek: "You never got enough last time."

The officer told the court: "That is a total fabrication."

The barrister continued: "Is it possible the decision to accuse him of being the driver was based on the fact a few years ago, tragically, he was involved in an incident when he knocked down a young girl who was killed and he got sent to prison for four years?"

Det Con Denham denied the assertion and told the jury: "There was no element of that at all.

"It was a judgement purely made on the evidence."

The jury heard yesterday that the defendant, of no fixed address, had been high on heroin the night he and Michael Collier, also of no fixed address, drove a car into the shop window and made off with £2,000 worth of mobile phones.

It is alleged Meek drove the Mazda 626 getaway car after the raid, in the early hours of May 18, as it was pursued by police before coming to a halt in Coundon, County Durham.

The trial continues.