Officers searched Harjinder Singh Butoy's home, which was part of the Forest Side post office, on Mansfield Road, and found £4,480 in notes.

Prosecutors claim there was a clear link between that money and an audit shortly before, on 24th April last year, which revealed a cash shortfall of more than £2,400.

Prosecutor Justin Wigoder told a jury at Nottingham Crown Court: "Mr Butoy, a sub-postmaster, has put his hands in the till and stolen cash to the tune of £209,000. He has tried to cover up by falsifying the post office's computer records."

A team of auditors arrived to carry out an audit and found the cash that day was short.

"The reason he could not provide an explanation was because he had been caught red-handed," said Mr Wigoder.

The sub-post office was a cash-rich one, with a lot of customers making large cash deposits over the counter into their accounts.

Butoy, it was alleged, was pretending to receive cheques and sending the fictitious cheques onto the central post office by computer to balance the books.

Mr Wigoder said: "When interviewed by the police he couldn't come up with any conceivable explanation for what had been found. He denied he had done anything wrong at all."

Butoy (32) denies 11 counts of theft from Post Office Ltd and the trial continues.