Prosecutor Richard Latham told Nottingham Crown Court how Hardy had been tracked visually and through mobile phone records during a detailed under cover police surveillance operation on 29th April 2003.

• Catch up on our previous Hardy Trial reports here.

During the operation, Hardy –– who made multiple calls on his mobile phone throughout –– was spotted travelling from his home to Nottingham Prison by undercover officers, before he travelled to Matlock and then back to Kirkby.

He was then spotted in an around Fox Street in Nuncargate, where a drug dealer was arrested for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs moments after a deal took place.

Mr Latham told the jury: "As a result of this operation a carrier bag containing four packages and a mobile phone were recovered from a vehicle involved in the deal, which had been left abandoned after it had crashed.

"The four packages were all heroin, with one package being 52 per cent pure heroin. Two blocks of cannabis was also recovered from an address in Nottingham which is linked to the deal in Nuncargate."

But in defence, Richard Burke raised concerns over the accuracy of the phone tapping and police observers and their ability to place Hardy at the exact point where the drugs were said to have been dealt.

Following the police operation, three men –– Garth Blower, David Selby and Stephen Hutchinson –– were all arrested and sentenced to long-term spells in prison.

Blower was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in September 2003, Selby to six years in July 2003 and Hutchinson to eight years in jail on July 2003.

Gary Hardy, of The Copse, Mansfield, and his brother Paul Hardy (47), of Kirkby, deny one charge of conspiracy to supply heroin, one charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine, one charge of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and four counts of conspiracy to supply cannabis between 1st January 2000 and 5th January 2007.

The brothers' mum June Muers (66), formerly of Pearl Avenue, Kirkby, also deny one charge of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and two charges of conspiracy to supply cannabis between 1st January 2003 and 5th January 2007.

Both Gary Hardy and Clipstone man Carl Busby (45), of Forest Road, also deny money laundering charges between 1st April 2003 and 4th January 2007.

Gary Hardy also denies a separate charge of having £14,000-worth of cash gained through criminal activities in his possession on 23rd May 2003.

Gary and Paul Hardy, of Willow Avenue, Kirkby, along with Muers, all deny a further charge of possessing criminal property on 4th January 2007.

Kirkby woman Zoe Chapman, of Willow Avenue –– Paul Hardy's partner –– also faces three charges of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and cannabis between 1st January 2000 and 5th January 2007.

(Proceeding)