A gang drove off with £1 million in stolen cash from Gatwick airport at the height of a series of heists across Britain, a court heard.

Two of Britain's best-known boxing promoters - brothers Martin and Tony Bowers - were part of the 13-man group behind a string of freight robberies and hijackings at airports and docks, it was alleged.

The brothers run the world-famous Peacock boxing gym in London's East End, used by Lennox Lewis, Prince Naseem and a host of pop stars and actors.

Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday the so-called Peacock Gang's biggest heist was a £1.1 million raid at Gatwick, carried out last March with the help of an insider from Eastbourne who fed the thieves crucial information.

Police had spent nine months secretly filming the group as they plotted and pulled off their string of brazen "high value" raids.

Flying Squad officers swooped as the gang sped away from the airport at high speed.

Timothy Barnes, QC, prosecuting, said a number of men were arrested including the three on trial.

They are Paul "Pongo" Bowers, 37, of Drew Road, North Woolwich, London, Lewis Nicholl, 55, of Union Street, Maidstone, Kent, and the alleged airport "insider" Keith Rayment, 29, of Pride View, Stone Cross, Eastbourne.

Paul Bowers and Nicholl deny six charges of conspiracy between August 22, 2002, and May 7 the following year, variously alleging plots to steal, obtain property by deception and handle stolen goods. Rayment pleads not guilty to one of the deception charges.

Mr Barnes said: "Rayment was the crucial insider at Gatwick, where he worked and provided the information to enable the other defendants to take possession of a sum in excess of £1 million in cash."

The gang allegedly posed as Brink's security guards with bogus uniforms and passes and managed to get into the British Airways world cargo terminal where the money, belonging to the HSBC bank, was stored.

The court heard they conned a security guard into opening the vault where the money was kept and he even helped them load the vehicle.

They then escaped with £1,123,639 in a van marked with the security company's logo. Bank officials did not realise they were impostors until after they were arrested.

The trial is expected to last two months.