AN Army veteran who became a bodyguard and then descended into the world of drugs, has been jailed for three years.

Craig Spedding, 29, was in the Coldstream Guards for nine years, serving in the Gulf War, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. He was discharged with a service character described as exemplary.

He then became a professional bodyguard earning more than £40,000, but his final return to Teesside led him to a prison cell, his lawyer told Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

Spedding got involved in the drugs trade, becoming a courier for a heroin gang which was under investigation by Cleveland Police. He was arrested in a raid, said David Brooke, prosecuting.

Judge Tony Briggs told him at Teesside Crown Court: "It is sad to see someone like you who has served his country so well being involved in the distribution of heroin and all the misery that it causes."

Spedding, of Marske Road, Bishopgarth, Stockton, was jailed for three years and had assets of £5,000 confiscated after he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin between January and April last year.

Keith Harcourt, also 29, of Royston Court, Roseworth, Stockton,was jailed for three years and three months and had assets of £42,000 seized after he admitted being involved in the same conspiracy.