A Bradford cafe manager has been jailed for 11 years after undercover police caught him making a £55,000 cocaine "drop-off" at a bustling train station.

A Court heard how, two days earlier, the shipment had been smuggled into Britain from Jamaica by a so-called human "mule" - a courier who swallowed sealed pellets of drugs to conceal them.

Leeds Crown Court was told how Richard Brown, who ran the Young Lion Caf in Lumb Lane, Manningham, sent a taxi from Bradford to pick the woman up at Gatwick airport and later handed over the sealed pellets at Leeds City station.

Michael Devlin, prosecuting, said, unbeknown to Brown and the buyer, Andre Curtis, the deal was being watched by members of the police's anti-Yardie crime squad and both men were arrested.

Colin Campbell, for Brown, said he had not profited from the drop-off and had only become involved to protect the courier who had been forced to smuggle the shipment by a gang of Jamaican "Yardie" criminals.

He told how Brown - also known as Bingy - had "devoted himself" to helping others since being released from a ten-year jail sentence for armed robbery in 1997. Mr Campbell said police spoke of his "public spirited behaviour" and handed over supportive letters from two force officials.

Brown, 38, of Thornleigh Gardens, Leeds, admitted supplying cocaine on December 3 last year and conspiring to pervert the course of justice - for fabricating a story about his role in the deal.

Judge James Spencer said Brown was involved at a "very high level" and praised the officers who caught him.

He said: "These kind of inquiries can be fraught with danger. It is our good fortune, and I say this as a member of society, that such officers do their duty so well."