A lorry driver who was caught handing over £1 million worth of heroin in a car park has been jailed for 15 years.

The massive drugs bust - the second largest ever in West Yorkshire - came after undercover police officers saw 40-year-old Neil Dibb meet another man, David Kelly, 39, in the car park at the rear of the Readmans store in Birkenshaw, in January.

Kelly, of Deacon Close, Fagley, was arrested after leaving the handover and drugs squad officers found two holdalls containing almost 22 kilos of heroin in the back of his Land Rover Discovery.

Dibb, of Hodgson Lane, Drighlington, was also stopped soon after and officers seized £17,000 from his car and his home.

During a four-day trial at Bradford Crown Court last week Dibb maintained that he had only been involved in smuggling tobacco products back from the Continent, but the prosecution put forward scientific evidence linking metal fragments found on the heroin packages with specially-adapted air tanks which had been fitted under Dibb's lorry.

Dibb accepted in evidence that he had arranged for the false tanks to be fitted, but claimed he had only planned to use them to smuggle tobacco.

He told the jury he had gone to meet Kelly in the car park because he wanted to talk about a future cigarettes deal and explain why he had been unable to get him any on his latest trip.

Dibb had pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing heroin with intent to supply but after almost nine hours of deliberation the jury found him guilty yesterday afternoon by a majority verdict of 10-2.

Imposing the 15-year jail term Judge Kerry Macgill told father-of-two Dibb that those who deal in heroin were involved in what he could only describe as "an evil trade'' which has become a curse on our society.

"The misery of heroin has become in this city a particular problem in recent years,'' he added.

He sentenced Dibb on the basis that it was his first involvement with heroin but said he had made a "quantum leap'' from smuggling in tobacco products.

Judge Macgill also ordered the confiscation of the £17,000 found in Dibb's possession at the time of his arrest.

Kelly, who pleaded guilty to a similar charge of possession of heroin with intent to supply, was sentenced to 11 years.

The judge rejected his claim that he did not know heroin was involved and that he believed it to be cannabis resin or cannabis bush.

It was "truly absurd,'' said Judge Macgill, that someone trusted with drugs worth in excess of £1 million would not be told what he was carrying.