AN ACCOUNTANT has told a jury he was not part of a conspiracy to inflate the value of software firm Torex Retail.

Mark Woodbridge, 42, is accused of conspiracy to defraud shareholders in the company, which had offices in Witney and Banbury, along with Nigel Horn, 58.

Woodbridge went into the witness box in the 11th week of their trial.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday he said he had only done “his best” to follow the instructions of the company’s directors.

Woodbridge, of Mill Farm, Brookhampton, Kineton, Warwickshire, denies three charges of false accounting in 2006, between May 1 and August 15.

The former group financial accountant for Torex Retail also denies two charges of conspiracy to defraud between May 1, 2006, and January 26, 2007.

They involve about £8.5m which the prosecution alleges was dishonestly entered in one of the company’s interim financial statements to inflate its value.

Horn, of The Avenue, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, who was the legal director, also denies conspiracy to defraud between November 1, 2006, and January 26, 2007.

The company’s former chairman Robert Loosemore and chief executive Christopher Moore both admitted two charges of conspiracy to defraud in January.

Gibson Grenfell, prosecuting, said in 2006 a sum of £5m appeared to have been paid to Torex by Magdalen Consulting, a company owned by Loosemore.

He said the distribution agreement, partly drafted by Woodbridge, had been made up by the alleged conspirators to explain where the money came from.

Woodbridge replied: “While yes, I had involvement in the drafting of the agreement, and I tried to make it in terms of how I understood it, I wasn’t the final author and it was up to others, particularly Moore, to agree it.”

Mr Grenfell said: “The reality was that you and your co-conspirators knew you had to cook up some kind of written justification for what was in the books. You and your co-conspirators tried to get away with making up a distribution agreement.”

Woodbridge replied: “I did my best with what I had been given. I accept that it was a mistake for me to have tried to change the agreement, but I did it because I was asked to. And this agreement was ultimately signed by Moore and Loosemore.”

He added that two of the firm’s directors, Marcus Leek and Mark Pearman, had also seen and were happy with the agreement.

Mr Grenfell asked: “It is always somebody else’s responsibility in your world, isn’t it Mr Woodbridge?”

Woodbridge answered: “Someone else started drafting it, I did something with it and then it went over to Moore.”

The trial continues.