White led a conservative life in Britain

Police believe Lincoln White, 39, of Dulwich, south-east London, to be the largest importer, manufacturer and distributor of crack caught in the UK.

A court heard the Jamaican national was masterminding a network which stretched from Nicaragua to Britain.

He was found guilty alongside five others of conspiracy to import and distribute class A drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Ryan, of the National Crime Squad, said: "We are delighted with this important result which has resulted in this kingpin drug lord and his associates being successfully convicted and facing being put behind bars for a very long time."

High security trial

During the trial, prosecutor Hugh Davies painted a picture of a loosely structured network of associates, some known to each other from childhood in Jamaica while others had associations from the Angell Town area of south London.

Below White and his lieutenants was a network of couriers, a corrupt airport worker and two former lovers of White who were delegated the task of transferring thousands of pounds abroad on his behalf.

The jury of seven men and five women at Kingston Crown Court took almost six days to return their verdict after a 10-week trial surrounded by massive security.

Such was the importance of White and the potential for his friends on the outside to hatch an escape plan, he was escorted to and from court each day by police both on the ground and overhead in a helicopter.

White lived in luxury at his home in Montego Bay

Police armed with machine guns patrolled the court and members of the public attending court had to pass through airport-style metal detectors while their bags were X-rayed.

Ten people were arrested around the night of March 20-21 last year in a series of co-ordinated raids across the UK involving 500 officers of the National Crime Squad, Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire Police and HM Customs & Excise.

On 21 March, police raided a flat in Clapham, south London, where they found a working crack factory and seized a holdall containing 24lb of drugs with a potential street value of more than �1m.

The haul, which was divided and packaged ready for 56,400 individual deals, was the largest single seizure of crack cocaine ever made in the UK.

Errol Williams, 30, from Brixton, south London, Michael Small, 37, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Julio Vispo, 36, from Streatham, south London, Maxine Hemmings, 37, from Mitcham, south London and Janet Scott, 41, from Lewisham, south-east London, were all convicted of one count of conspiracy to import class A drugs and one count of conspiracy to supply.

Before the trial, Yuleane Tulloch, 27, of Clapham, south London, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to supply illegal drugs and Philip Hearsum, 51, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, Kemi Osagie, 21, and Natasha Osagie, 20, both from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import class A drugs.

All the defendants will be sentenced on 27 and 28 of April.