A British Airways steward has been jailed for 16 years for his role in a plot to smuggle hundreds of thousands of pounds of cocaine through Gatwick.

Customs officers search-ed his blue Samsonite suitcase after he stepped off a plane from Kingston, Jamaica, and found six slabs of the drug wrapped in a pillowcase.

The six kilos had an estimated street value of £360,000.

A court heard how he claimed the case was not his, despite it being labelled with his BA crew identity tag.

Akpabio-Klementowski, 38, was told the punishment was to reflect the betrayal of trust between himself and the airline.

Richard Jarrett, 48, a self-employed decorator from Wembley, was arrested two days later on June 15, 2002, when he arrived at the airport from Jamaica on another BA flight.

He denied being involved in drug smuggling or knowing Akpabio-Klementowski, from Hounslow.

But investigators discovered both were in possession of the other's phone number and had called one another frequently.

They had also stayed in the same hotels at the same time in the Caribbean and South America on a number of occasions over the previous two years.

Both were found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine into the UK at Croydon Crown Court.

Jarrett was yesterday sentenced to 17 years imprisonment. Both will get a five-year travel restriction order once they are released.