A Carlisle drug-dealer who organised heroin to be brought into north Cumbria has been jailed for nine years.

Stuart Hardy, 25, organised at least one illegal shipment of the class A drug out of Leeds between June and August last year.

Around 335g, worth £20,000, was intercepted by police on August 8 as it was transported west along the A66.

Hardy, of Scalegate Road, Carlisle admitted conspiring to supply heroin over a seven-week period, and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today.

Judge Peter Davies heard Hardy made two other trips to West Yorkshire last July, and concluded that more than a kilogram of the drug had been smuggled into Cumbria during the conspiracy.

"You were senior in the hierarchy," Judge Davies told Hardy, as the jail term was handed down.

"I regard you as a serious player."

A couple from Carlisle were sentenced for their respective roles in the plot last Friday.

Peter Doran, 40, a courier, was jailed for seven years having pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and a separate attempted robbery.

Rachel Gent, 32, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin, and received a suspended sentence.