A BLACKPOOL businessman is protesting his innocence -- after police investigating an alleged fraud took away his computers and locked him and his wife in a police cell.

Coin, gold and jewellery dealer Lawrence Chard, 52, says he is "shocked and upset" after plain clothes officers from London's Metropolitan police visited his showroom on Lytham Road last Wednesday and took away four computers and a printer.

Mr Chard, 52, told of the moment officers walked into his Lytham Road showroom in South Shore.

"I was astounded really. They walked in, said hello, established who I was, arrested me and then served us a search warrant to search the premises and take computers."

He added that he and his wife Jane, a co-director, were then detained in a police cell at Blackpool Central police station for five hours before being questioned by London officers and then released on bail.

He said officers wanted to know about a large sum which someone tried to transfer from a company's account into the Chard business account to purchase gold coins. The bank stopped the transfer, which is now the subject of an investigation as an alleged deception.

Mr Chard said: "In this business we're used to looking out for cheques that bounce and take suitable precautions, but never for one minute did we consider we ourselves would be under suspicion for what someone else is alleged to have done.

"This is the first time in 37 years in business that anything like this has happened, but it doesn't lessen the shock of being locked in a police cell and being told to close the office while the Metropolitan police take away the computers that mean your livelihood."

He and his wife Jane must return for police questioning at London's West End Central police station on June 19, he said, adding they have not been formally charged and say they are innocent of any wrong-doing.

He said: "I can appreciate the police's position. They have got the facts as they know them and they are working in the dark to start with."

But he added: "The whole investigation has also not considered that my business is doing very well thanks to honest hard work, and it would be stupid for anyone to try to pay in a large fraudulent sum into their own bank account."

A spokesman for Blackpool police refused to confirm or deny whether Mr and Mrs Chard had been held in cells and the London Metropolitan force was unable to give out any details.