A 29-year-old father-of-one told a jury how he agreed to work as a drugs courier for two men after he was treated to a free holiday.

Gary Padgett started to deliver ecstasy tablets, amphetamines, cannabis and sometimes cocaine in carrier bags after he had a break in Ibiza, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He said that when he started to work for Dale Hooson and Nigel Sharp, he would pick up the drugs from the Heartbeat Fitness Centre in Little Germany, Bradford, and then deliver them in bags in the Bradford and Halifax areas. But he admitted that he was later involved in picking up drugs from Liverpool.

Padgett said he went to Ibiza in 2000 with Hooson after Hooson offered to pay for the holiday.

While they were there, Hooson allegedly suggested to Padgett that he could earn money fetching and carrying drugs for him and Sharp. Padgett told the court he agreed as it was a chance to get some money and a car.

He said Sharp, who ran the Upper Parkgate gym in Little Germany, or his gym manager Hooson, would call him, give him a carrier bag and tell him where to deliver it.

Padgett, who has already admitted two charges of conspiring with others to supply large quantities of Class A and B drugs, is the main prosecution witness in the trial of eight men.

Nigel Sharp, 46, of Common Road, Upper Edge, Elland; Dale Hooson, 40, of Old Lane, Boothtown, Halifax; David Nicholson, 35, of Breck Lea, Beechwood, Sowerby Bridge; his cousin Andrew Nicholson, of Hollins Lane, Mixenden, and Alan Wilby, 31, of Castle Avenue, Raistrick, all deny two charges of conspiracy to supply drugs.

Paul Haukerdahl, 36, of Altmorr Road, Huyton, Liverpool, and John McGinn, 41, of Princess Drive, Huyton, deny the conspiracy allegations and a series of charges involving making threats to kill Padgett and his partner. Stephen Kelsall, 36, of Peel Street, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, has also pleaded not guilty to the two conspiracy charges.

The jury heard from the prosecution in its opening last week that Padgett handed himself in to police after his friend Philip Smith was shot twice in the head and found dead in a lay-by in the Tong area of Bradford.

The court heard the death was not linked to anyone involved in this case, but after Padgett failed to pay an £18,000 drugs debt it made him and his partner more frightened.

The trial continues.