A MAN posing as a policeman stopped a cyclist to tell him he was carrying out a random drug test then pulled him off his bike.

The cyclist was dragged into a back yard where a second man demanded money.

When the victim said he had nothing they wrestled him to the ground and rifled through his pockets, taking £102.

Eric Wilson, aged 32, of Chestnut Avenue, Bury, appeared at Bolton Crown Court where he denied robbing Tyrone Colin Hawkes.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said Mr Hawkes was cycling along Walmesley Road, Bury, on November 27 when he heard his name being called.

He did not recognise the man and stopped next to him. The man said he was a police officer carrying out searches for drugs. He was grabbed and pulled into a nearby back street.

There he recognised a second man as Eric Wilson.

When he was arrested, Wilson agreed that there had been an incident between himself, another man and Hawkes, but gave a different version of events.

He claimed Hawkes was a heroin dealer who sold the drug to children. Wilson claimed they had recovered several bags of heroin from Hawkes and later put them down the drain.

He refused to name the second man who has not been arrested.

Mr Dickinson said because of the time between the alleged robbery and his arrest, Wilson had time to fabricate a story.

Proceeding