A 36-year-old drug dealer who ran a major “cocaine trading business” from his home near Rochester was jailed for four years today.

Mark Gardner will also face an investigation into how much he profited from the illicit trade and the seizure of assets will be considered.

When police raided the luxury house in Vicarage Lane, Hoo, after a long surveillance operation, parked outside were expensive Porsche Boxter, BMW and Audi estate cars.

Gardner, who lived with his 24-year-old girlfriend Katrina Wells, also owned a “rather smart” microlight plane he kept at Medway Microlights in Stoke, near Rochester.

Wells, who tried to dispose of drugs during the police swoop, was given a 200-hour community penalty.

Nadeem Butt and Mohammed Afzal, who were caught delivering a consignment of cocaine to Gardner, were each sentenced to three years.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how officers saw Gardner repeatedly go to a stash of cocaine in Jacobs Lane, Hoo. A camera was placed in a tree to record the visits and others were trained on his home.

Officers went to the stash on July 25 and seized a box containing 79g of powder worth over £5,000.

Butt, 36, and Gardner were arrested outside the house. Wells locked the front door and was washing the drug down the sink when police broke in.

Afzal, 22, drove off and threw a bag containing £24,000 cash into weeds at a graveyard in Church Street. He was arrested soon afterwards.

A search of Gardner’s home revealed half a kilo of cocaine worth £19,000. Smaller amounts of the drug, some hidden in a cereal box, were worth a total of about £750. In the loft was £1,700 cash.

A list of calculations showing drug dealing in “thousands” was also found, along with three sets of electronic scales and re-sealable bags.

When arrested, Gardner, who admitted four charges of possessing cocaine with intent to supply, said his family’s lives would be endangered if he answered any questions.

Wells, now of Avery Way, Allhallows, admitted perverting the course of justice. She said she tried to dispose of the drug down the sink after seeing it done on television. She added that Gardner worked for a plant hire company.

Butt, from Hounslow, Middlesex, and Afzal, of Hillingdon, Middlesex, denied possessing drugs with intent to supply but were convicted after a trial.

Butt claimed he was involved in counterfeit clothing and knew nothing about the drugs. Afzal said he agreed to drive Butt because his neck was painful.

Dominic Bell, for Gardner, said the Porsche was not the family car and had been returned to the owner. It would not form part of the confiscation proceedings, he said.

Mr Bell’s submission that Gardner’s role was less serious than Butt’s was rejected by Judge Michael Neligan.

Gardner agreed to plead guilty if Wells, father of his five-year-old child, only faced a charge of perverting the course of justice.

While on remand, Gardner had completed an information technology course and taken exams. “He is a model prisoner who has turned his situation to the best advantage,” said Mr Bell.

Terence Boulter, for Wells, said she did not fit the normal offender profile. “What she did that day was really out of a moment of madness and blind panic in trying to dispose of the drugs in a rather amateurish way,” he said.

When putting the cocaine down the sink did not work, she threw it in a bin. She also tried to conceal some in a Weetabix box.

Mr Boulter said Wells found three weeks in custody in Holloway Prison traumatic and distressing. She was now working at a hairdressing salon to support her child.

Judge Neligan told Gardner, Butt and Afzal: “There is a real problem in the Medway towns with the supply of Class A drugs. Each of you three sought to contribute to that problem.”

The judge told Wells he took into account her disastrous relationship with Gardner. “I have thought long and hard whether I could avoid a custodial sentence,” he said. “For reasons urged upon me, and in particular the position of your child, I have concluded I can.”