HOUSE husband Paul Rowlands splashed out on cars and luxury goods from cash given to him from his wife, he told a court.

And he claimed that he never realised she had stolen £1.7m from her workplace at Dunbar Bank, London, until after the offence came to light.

Rowlands, of Blunsdon, pleads not guilty to handling just under £35,500 in stolen cash between August 1997 and November 1998.

The 45-year-old also denies dishonestly receiving wrongful credit amounting to the sum £17,000 between September 1997 and April 2000.

Swindon Crown Court heard how, through the 1990s, Rowlands acquired a number of high value possessions. They included a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a Range Rover, BMW and Mercedes cars.

He was also a regular customer of a camera shop, buying thousands of pounds worth of photographic equipment, and took holidays in the Seychelles and USA.

But cash was supplied to him, and credit card bills paid for him, by his wife, he said.

Rowlands told the court: "I didn't know what my wife earned. I never thought about it. She was never short of money and there was never any problems with money.

"Since I stopped working my wife has taken hold of the finances. I thought the money came from her wages."

When Garth Richardson, defending, asked Rowlands if he knew the money was stolen, he replied: "Certainly not".

Rowlands said that he presumed his wife relied on cash so much because she was a high earner and if she kept money in a bank account she would be "clobbered" by tax.

He told the jury that he intends to stand by his convicted wife, saying: "My wife committed a crime against Allied Dunbar. She has not committed a crime against me."

The court has heard how Rowlands' wife Beryl admitted stealing £1.7 million pounds from Dunbar Bank. Last month she started a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for the theft.

Sgt Wayne Bagnell, of Wiltshire police, told the jury yesterday how a search of the couple's home at Yew Tree Cottage, on the A419, revealed:

A large number of antiques

A bar stocked with expensive wine, champagne and ports

A snooker room

A gym

A photographic room and dark room.

Rowlands told the court he left the Army in 1980 with a medical discharge.

After his wife and children left him, he said, he moved from Cheshire to the Wiltshire area, working in several jobs including maintenance at a chicken feed factory.

He met Beryl Rowlands, he said, and moved in with her at Blunsdon at Yew Tree Cottage. When he bought the adjoining house the couple knocked it into one.

The court heard that when police first interviewed Paul Rowlands he told them: "I know I haven't done anything. You've just got to work out that fact."

When police questioned Rowlands about a number of cars and motorcycles bought by him including a BMW Coupe worth £30,500.00 from Dick Lovett in Swindon he told them he couldn't remember where the money came from.