A LORRY driver who helped smuggle £5m of cocaine into the country in a truck full of Bordeaux wine has been jailed for 14 years.

Thirty-five-year-old David Quick, from Essex, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs after a retrial at the Old Bailey and sentenced on July 25.

Police arrested Quick in a Dartford layby on the A282 when he pulled over to make a handover with the rest of the group.

Officers searched the lorry and found 42kg of cocaine.

Quick, who denied the charge, told detectives he had no idea about the drugs but the court heard how he took the truck onto a ferry in France having met with 37-year-old Michael Linker to pick up the stash.

But when Quick arrived to meet 34-year-old Alister Morin on April 4 last year, police moved in as Linker tried to retrieve the cocaine from the truck.

Morin was arrested in Bow Arrow Lane, Dartford, after being tracked driving to the transfer point.

Quick had originally stood trial with Morin from Essex, in April.

Morin was convicted for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and imprisoned for 15 years but Quick faced a retrial.

Linker from Bristol, and ring-leader, James Scarciglia, aged 30, from Harrow, had both admitted the same charge and were jailed for 14 years and 15 years respectively.

Another gang member - Jason Young, aged 37, of Bath Road, Dartford, was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to the same charge for acting as a courier.