A FUGITIVE businessman wanted on drugs charges who escaped justice for 12 years after he fled abroad was last night beginning a jail sentence for his crimes.

Former nightclub boss Gary Robb was jailed for five years at Teesside Crown Court after previously admitting two charges of permitting premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs, namely ecstasy, amphetamine and cannabis, between May 1994 and February 1996.

Cleveland Police said Robb’s jailing had “closed the chapter” on a long-running investigation which began in the mid-Nineties with a series of undercover operations at the former Colosseum nightclub, in Norton Road, Stockton.

However Robb, who grinned as he was jailed by Judge George Moorhouse, will only serve half of his sentence before being freed, while 525 days he had already spent in custody will be deducted, meaning he could leave prison in about a year’s time.

The 47-year-old property developer went on trial at Teesside Crown Court in September 1997, but skipped bail and fled to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where he remained until January last year.

Ben Nolan, prosecuting, said that Robb was only returned when the authorities in Cyprus – with whom the UK has no formal extradition treaty – deemed him “persona non grata” and he was arrested by police on arrival at Stansted Airport.

Robb bought the nightclub premises after a previous club in Sunderland was destroyed by an arson attack. The Colosseum, which attracted up to 1,000 people a night on Friday and Saturdays, became a mecca for “ravers” paying between £10 and £20 each for admission.

Mr Nolan described how Robb used a network of companies to hide the fact that he owned the club and employed a manager, friend and confidant Trevor Ward – who later turned prosecution witness – even though he controlled all the transactions.

He said Robb’s brother Jimmy – who was later jailed for 12 years and was in the public gallery yesterday – was responsible for employing a “syndicate” of drug dealers at the venue who sold ecstasy tablets for £13 each to clubbers along with £5 amphetamine wraps.

Mr Nolan said police purporting to be customers infiltrated the club, adding: “They quickly established that the club was being used as a cover for drug dealing.”

However, the Robb brothers were only arrested following a police raid on February 3, 1996 in which ecstasy, amphetamine and cannabis with a total street value of £15,000 was seized.

Prior to that, a young woman had collapsed and was taken to hospital after taking an ecstasy tablet at the venue, although she survived.

Mr Nolan said that Mr Ward told the police that 80 per cent of the Colosseum’s customers were routinely buying drugs along with water and soft drinks which only added to its profitability.

Water taps were turned off at the club, while security staff had strict instructions to seize any drugs being taken into the club so customers would not buy their own.

Charles Bott, for Robb, whose last UK address was West Road, Denton Burn, Newcastle, said there was no evidence that he received a proportion of the drug dealing proceeds, which were collected by Jimmy Robb.

Both the prosecution and Judge Moorhouse accepted that Robb had only benefited from the admission proceeds that were taken on the door.

After the hearing, Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Swinson, of Cleveland Police, said: “I am pleased that justice has been served and Gary Robb has received a custodial sentence.

“This has closed the chapter on this investigation which has been such a complex and protracted inquiry.”