A former manager at a McDonald's restaurant in Bradford faces a lengthy jail sentence after police found almost £150,000 of heroin stashed in his staff locker.

Officers went to the restaurant in Ingleby Road, Bradford, and after forcing the lock discovered nearly three kilos of the drug hidden inside.

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday how the haul could have flooded the city with the drug, producing about 30,000 individual £5 deals.

A jury took less than two hours to find Arfan Naseer, 22, guilty of possessing the Class A drug with intent to supply.

Judge Kerry Macgill told Naseer: "What you have been convicted of is being involved with just under three kilos of heroin.

"Heroin is the scourge of our community in this part of West Yorkshire and the UK.

"It is an evil drug and people who deal with it in any form must be punished severely when they come before the courts."

During the three-day trial the court heard how Naseer worked as a floor manager at the restaurant.

The court was told how detectives were carrying out a routine inquiry at his home in Durham Road, Girlington, Bradford, as part of the ongoing riots investigation.

And less than an hour later, after getting authority to open the locker, they discovered the heroin which was found to be 54 per cent pure.

The court heard how Naseer handed himself in to police a few days after the drugs - valued at £146,900 and made up of three brick-sized packages - were discovered in July last year.

At first Naseer claimed he had found the heroin packages after seeing a man put something into bushes near the restaurant.

But he later changed his story and told police he had been ordered at gunpoint to stash the drugs in his work locker.

Naseer claimed he accepted a lift home from McDonald's by two men who drove him to Ogden Water, near Halifax, and said they wanted him to hold on to some drugs for them.

He said a few days later the men turned up at his house and handed him a bag containing the drugs.

But he never heard from the men again.

Judge Macgill told Naseer he would be sentenced in three weeks' time after a pre-sentence report had been prepared.

He also ordered that the heroin be destroyed.