A POLICE inspector responsible for disposing of property seized by officers has told a jury he had no knowledge of about £700,000 of drugs found in his home.

Inspector Keith Boots, 55, is accused of stealing large quantities of drugs from West Yorkshire Police with the intention of supplying them to others.

But Boots told the trial at Leeds Crown Court that he had "never" stolen anything and had nothing to do with the drugs found in his Bradford home.

The trial has heard that Boots' house in Norman Lane, Eccleshill, was raided on December 4, 2014 after a colleague noticed a quantity of cocaine missing from the store at Trafalgar House police station, in Bradford.

Officers found cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and including 11kg of cocaine "jammed" into his washing machine, the court heard.

Ammunition for a gun was also found along with drug disposal bins from the police station, the jury has been told.

David Mason QC, defending Boots, asked the defendant: "Have you ever stolen any drugs from the police property store at Trafalgar House?"; and: "Have you ever stolen anything from anywhere?"

Boots said: "Never."

Mr Mason continued: "The drugs that we know were found at your house, did you know of their presence in your house?"

Boots replied: "No, certainly not."

His barrister then asked: "Did you have anything to do with those drugs?"

The defendant said: "Definitely not."

The senior police officer told the jury that one of his roles was to check and sign off drug disposals and to "set and maintain standards" at work.

He sent a number of emails to colleagues voicing his concerns about missing property or property that was not logged or secured correctly, the court heard.

Boots, who had been a West Yorkshire Police officer since 1990 and an inspector for 13 years, said missing property was a "constant battle" but when he raised it with members of senior management he was reprimanded for contacting them directly.

He said he knew there was a CCTV camera in the property store at the station because he "had it installed" and said he had expressed a "strong desire" for covert cameras to be installed.

Boots said work "kept him sane" while he was waiting for a liver transplant and in constant pain from the symptoms of polycystic liver disease and said he was held up as a "role model" for others owing to his attendance during his illness.

The jury heard that he bought the house in Norman Lane in 2006 and was renovating it at the time of his arrest.

He said a number of people, including his son, Ashley, and a number of tradespeople had keys to the property but said he did not stay in the house because of its condition.

The defendant said he often did not lock the house and he did not know who was going into the property when he was not there.

Boots is on trial with his son and a third defendant, Ian Mitchell.

He told the jury he got on well with his son but said they had a "very strange relationship".

Keith Boots denies four counts of theft, six counts of possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply, one count of possessing ammunition, three counts of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs, one count of conspiracy to steal and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Ashley Boots, 30 of Heatherhouse Terrace, Halifax, denies conspiracy to steal drugs, three counts of conspiracy to supply drugs, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and one charge of possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

He has admitted six charges of possessing drugs with intent to supply and one count of possessing ammunition.

Mitchell, 27, of no fixed address, denies one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The trial continues.