A man who couriered £1.6m of cocaine from West Yorkshire to the Midlands has been jailed for 14 years.

Jason Gooch, from Dewsbury, was part of a gang of six that were involved in a plot to bring the class A drug from to Leicester and Nottingham.

Gooch, 41, of Crown Flatt Way, had been seen meeting conspirator Jonathon Lightbrown in the car park of a fast food restaurant at a leisure park in Leicester where money was exchanged for drugs.

Mobile phone data showed that Gooch had made several trips between Dewsbury and Leicester to deliver drugs.

Police searched Gooch’s home, as well as those of the five other gang members, and found drugs, drugs paraphernalia and items related to the preparation of drugs.

Gooch and Lightbrown, 29, were both found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs at Leicester Crown Court in October. The four other drugs ring members Rishi Karir, 32, Francesco Dimola, 33, Christopher Smith, 32, and Daniel Witheridge, 30, all from Leicestershire, pleaded guilty to drugs charges.

The judge told Gooch: “Your role was to courier recently imported cocaine to Leicester in Operation Beagle and to Nottingham in Operation Intruder.

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“You were trusted, not only with huge quantities of drugs and money, but performed additional functions.

“You made numerous journeys and on the two occasions when cocaine was seized they were in two kilo quantities.”

Gooch was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: “As part of the operation it was established that a large amount of high purity cocaine was delivered into Leicestershire, thought to be worth between £640,000 and £1.6 million.”

Gooch was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to supply cocaine between October and November 2016.

Witheridge, of Woodthorpe Road, Loughborough, admitted possessing cannabis and possessing cocaine with intent to supply and got 10 years.

Karir, of Oak Road, Littlethorpe, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and was sentenced to 10 years.

Lightbown, of Blaby Road, Wigston, was convicted of conspiring to supply cocaine and got 10 years.

Dimola, of Packhorse Drive, Enderby, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and was jailed for eight years.

Smith, of Gainsborough Road, Leicester, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and got four-and-a-half years.