A SCHOOLBOY allegedly robbed of his bike by a man armed with a Samurai sword made up the allegation, a jury was told.

At Carlisle Crown court, a defence lawyer for 31-year-old Jamie Wilson said the teenager had invented the story because he wanted to deflect the blame for him having swapped his bike with the accused man.

The prosecution claims that Wilson, of Miller's Close, Botcherby, used the 3ft long sword he was carrying near a Carlisle park on August 28 last year to threaten the 13-year-old boy so he could steal his bike.

The defendant denies robbery and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place without good reason.

In his evidence, the boy told the court that he had been riding along a footpath with a friend after walking through Keenan Park in Carlisle when they were stopped in their tracks by Wilson.

The boy said the defendant had showed him the sword and then asked him: "What do you think I can do with this?" Wilson then allegedly cycled off on the boy's bike, leaving behind the one was originally riding behind.

Jeff Smith, for Wilson, summed up the defendant's case after the jury had heard all of the evidence in the case.

Mr Smith said Wilson told the truth when he told police he was simply moving the sword from his father's home to his own. Police found the weapon being openly displayed at his home hours after the alleged robbery.

If he had used the sword in a robbery, it would be "rather surprising" if he then left the weapon at his home openly displayed, he said. Nor would Wilson have left his bike -covered in his fingerprints - at the scene of a robbery he had committed.

Mr Smith said the boy, in his evidence, had not been completely honest.

The lawyer pointed also to evidence that the teenager had not wanted the police to get involved in the case.

Mr Smith suggested the reason for this may have been that the boy wanted to deflect the blame because his mother was angry when he returned home with Wilson's bike and not his own.

Wilson insisted the boy and he had agreed to swap bikes.

Explaining the Samurai sword, he said he showed it to the teenager and his friend because the boy asked about it.

But the boy's story was corroborated by his friend, said prosecutor David Bentley, describing the child as an honest and reliable witness. The jury is likely to consider verdicts today.