A FAMILY-RUN drugs ring dealing in massive quantities of heroin and cocaine bought the silence of a university caretaker, a court heard.

A Teesside Crown Court jury was yesterday told that husband and wife Christopher and Jane Moloney were at the heart of the drugs ring.

Former Teesside University caretaker Mark McCabe, 47, was jailed for five years in August 2003 for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and possession of illegal weapons.

He admitted acting as a storekeeper for the gang by hiding £67,000 worth of drugs, a pump action shotgun and a pistol, along with cash, at the Middlesbrough campus, but said he "would be dead" if he revealed who they belonged to.

Neil Davey, prosecuting, said that an Asda carrier bag recovered from McCabe in the university raid had Mrs Moloney's fingerprints on it.

Mr Davey said that on October 27, 2003, police searched the home of Mr Moloney's niece Nicola Harrison, in Heddingham Close, Middlesbrough, where she lived with her boyfriend David Turner.

Mr and Mrs Maloney were present during the raid which recovered heroin and cocaine with a street value of £14,000.

Mr Davey described how the Moloneys agreed to pay Mr McCabe's mortgage with cash while taking rent from a sitting tenant and said they also paid £2,000 for double glazing repairs to his property.

Mr Davey said: "The Moloney family were anxious to keep him McCabe sweet and maintain his silence if necessary by buying it and so they did."

Mr Moloney, 36, and Mrs Moloney, 37, of The Avenue, Middlesbrough, Mr Turner, 30, and Ms Harrison, 30, all deny conspiring together to supply class A drugs together with Mark McCabe between March 9, 2003 and March 19, last year. They also deny, along with Mark McCabe, conspiracy to use criminal property by spending the proceeds from supply of drugs between the same dates.

Mrs and Mrs Moloney further plead not guilty to conspiracy to possess a revolver, single barrel shotgun and ammunition.

The trial continues.