John Thorne: "According to the prosecution, they were caught red handed"

"We were professionals at our jobs. We were not thieves," David Scott, 61, told Durham Crown Court.

Mr Scott, of Blaydon in Gateshead, is jointly accused with his wife Mary, 45, of four counts of stealing floral tributes from the Garden of Remembrance in Preston cemetery, Northshields, earlier this year. They both deny the charges.

David Scott: "We are professionals"

The couple were spotted by a cemetery caretaker at the graveyard. Mrs Scott allegedly took the wreath while Mr Scott is said to have acted as look-out.

But Mr Scott told the jury he thought he was salvaging, not stealing the wreath bases he took from cemetery skips.

His wife said flowers from cemeteries could not be recycled because they were "tired, dirty and dying" and that she was only interested in examining the flowers to see how their competitors put them together.

Mrs Scott said that the reason police had found two memorial cards from wreaths at their home was because her daughter collected them.

"She was going to make a book of different cards for people who were stuck for words."

A fifth charge of taking laurel from a tree in the Garden of Remembrance was dropped.

Mary Scott said she was curious about rival florists

Brian Forster, for the prosecution, told Mr Scott: "You were willing to intrude on other people's tragedy and steal their flowers."

Mr Scott replied: "We have been in business for too long to do that."

The Scotts ran their florist shop for 13 years until the allegations began when the business collapsed.

Mrs Scott told the court that since then the family had been harassed, their car fire-bombed and their daughter bullied at school.