FOUR Ayrshire contractors working on the Trident submarine project swindled the Ministry of Defence out of almost £425,000 in a clocking in scandal, a court heard.

The scam went undetected for months at the Devonport Royal Dockyard.

More than 100 separate contractors and 40,000 people were employed on a project to upgrade the site in 2001 and 2002.

Bosses at contractor McLaughlan's Scaffolding Limited took advantage of the vast sums of money funding the development to cream off hundreds of thousands of pounds, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Three of the men in the dock, Robert Burns, 38, Matthew Gillies, 28, and Mark Burns, 34, worked for McLaughlan's.

John Tibbetts, 33, Christopher Ackerman, 32, and Kevin Watkins, 60, were employed by another contractor called Jordan Engineering Ltd, which was responsible for processing McLaughlan's invoices.

They are said to have accepted bribes including cars, free accommodation and thousands of pounds to turn a blind eye to what McLaughlan's was doing. Prosecutor Paul Garlick QC said that over a 39-week period, the MoD lost £424,923.92.

Jurors were told James McLaughlan, of Kilwinning, has already admitted conspiracy to defraud the Secretary of State for Defence.

Mark Burns, of West Kilbride; Gillies, of Troon; and Robert Burns, of Androssan, all deny conspiracy to defraud, along with John Tibbetts, of Paignton; Ackerman, of Plymouth and Watkins, of Pembrokeshire.