A CROOKED cop who passed inside information to a drugs lord at the centre of a multi-million pound cocaine ring has been jailed for two years.

Intelligence officer Gary Christie, 42, put his life-long friendship with underworld boss Asa Dobbing ahead of his duties, a court heard.

The pair were pals who met regularly due to their connection to the football team which Dobbing managed.

So when one of Dobbing's henchmen was caught with £650,000 worth of cocaine, he turned to his old friend to find out how much the police knew.

Teesside Crown Court heard how records showed Christie searched the Northumbria Police computer for details of drugs courier Jamie Malloy, shortly after he had been arrested with a kilo of cocaine in his car.

Christie was on the telephone to Dobbing as he made one of the searches, although he told the jury the call was nothing to do with cocaine.

He claimed he had made it because landlord Dobbing told him Malloy was a tenant who had not paid his rent.

But jurors rejected what a judge called his "inventions" and Christie, from Silksworth Lane, Sunderland, was convicted of misconduct in public office. He was cleared of conspiracy to supply class A drugs between August 2012, and April, 2014.

Dobbing, 37, of Ryhope Grange Court, Sunderland, was convicted of aiding abetting a person to commit misconduct in public office between the same dates.

Jailing Detective Constable Christie, Judge Howard Crowson told him: "As a serving police officer you were prepared to bend the rules over time.

"You put your friendship with Asa Dobbing above your duties as a police officer. The information was clearly useful to those committing drugs offences.

"There must be a message given clearly that police officers who are prepared to assist in this way must receive prison sentences."

The court heard that the two men had been in contact by phone after one of the computer searches, and met in a park following another "to provide information".

The judge said Christie had "deliberately ignored" warnings from a senior colleague, and had "clearly been briefing" Dobbing on his findings.

Dobbing had 12 months added to the 14-year sentence he is currently serving for the wholsesale supply of drugs. His brother Aidan received the same sentence.

“The couriers who delivered the drugs and collected the money made numerous trips up and down the country,” said prosecutor Nick Dry as he opened the case earlier this month.

“Kilos of cocaine worth millions of pounds on the street were brought from the south of England up to the Sunderland area, with payment in hard cash going the other way.”

Christopher Knox, for Christie, said: "The inevitable consequence of this is that his career is at an end after 20 years. It has been valuable to him, important to him,and the centre of his life.

"The losses to him and his family in material terms of that police career are huge."

Deputy Chief Constable, Winton Keenen, of Northumbria Police, said after the hearing: “We condemn, completely, the actions of PC Christie.

“His behaviour demonstrates a complete disregard for what the vast majority of police officers stand for and is completely at odds with the ethics and values we expect in Northumbria Police.

“It is hugely disappointing that his appalling behaviour has not only let down the public, so badly, and also his colleagues.

“The public must be able to trust their public services and this case should send out the clear message that we will seek out and take swift, decisive action against anyone who abuses that trust.”

Other conspirators in the supply of the drugs were also dealt with at a previous hearing.

Simon Loomes, 42, of Duke's Valley, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, was jailed for eleven years, Iain Potts, 29, of Cavendish Place, Silksworth, Sunderland, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years and Kevin Dudley, 21, of Hadrian Park, Jarrow, South Tyneside, was jailed for six years, nine months.