A former boxing champion has been jailed for seven years for drug dealing and money laundering.

Paul Halpin, 35, was arrested outside a luxury flat he rented at Palmeira Grand in Holland Road, Hove.

He was carrying £58,000 he had made from supplying cocaine to a new Audi A3 parked nearby.

The former Southern super flyweight title holder told police the money came from investments including the sale of shares in a copper mine in Zaire.

He claimed it was to be used to pay builders extending an Italian restaurant in Church Road, Hove.

Undercover police had watched Halpin get into a red VW van in Lloyd road, Hove, on October 10, last year.

Owner Steve Jutton drove him around the corner and stopped to let him out a few seconds later.

Cocaine worth £8,500 was found stuffed between the van's front seats when police stopped it in Preston Road, Brighton, ten minutes later.

Jutton, 38, of Longhill Road,Woodingdean, Brighton, was jailed for four years after admitting possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Halpin, denied the charges but was found guilty after a two week trial last month. (Nov) He was jailed when he appeared at Brighton Crown Court for sentence yesterday.