A supergrass who blew the lid off a multi-million-pound drugs ring has been jailed for two years.

But the judge heard how Garry Padgett's decision to step into the witness box would effect his and his family's lives forever.

After deciding to give evidence against the gang, Padgett was relocated from Bradford to a town hundreds of miles away.

But Bradford Crown Court heard that, on one occasion after his move, he spotted an old acquaintance in the street and immediately moved his partner and daughter into a hotel.

The former bouncer-turned-courier turned himself in to police after drugs associate Philip Smith was shot dead in an isolated lay-by in Tong in February 2002.

The 30-year-old, who had ferried huge shipments of drugs between Liverpool and Bradford, wrongly thought Smith was murdered over an unpaid debt and feared he was next on the 'hit list' after receiving a string of death threats.

Believing it was his only chance of safety, Padgett walked into a police station and told detectives about the network's activities.

At Bradford Crown Court last month, five men were sentenced to more than 50 years in jail for conspiring to supply a huge amount of ecstasy and cannabis across Northern England.

The Bradford mastermind, Nigel Sharp, 47, who owned the Heartbeat Fitness Centre in Little Germany, was jailed for 14 years while his Liverpool supplier, Paul Haukerdahl, was sentenced to 16 years.

The court had heard how police found a 'drugs ledger' at Sharp's Elland home detailing £1.8 million of deals over less than a year.

Barrister Colin Harvey, for Padgett, told Judge Peter Benson of the chance sighting after Padgett's relocation. He stressed there was no connection with the drugs case but added: "It's an indication as to what much of the rest of his life is going to feel like."

Padgett pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs in July last year.

Judge Benson told him: "Clearly the sort of assistance you have given the police and the prosecuting authorities must be marked by a very substantial reduction in the appropriate sentence that must follow for these offences."But he hoped Padgett's future would be much brighter than the past had been once he had served his sentence.