A bugging device was planted in Vincent Gibbs' Mercedes by police who recorded him talking to a co-conspirator about cocaine deals and "taking people out", Bristol Crown Court heard.

The jury was told that Gibbs, 37, of Croft Road, Old Town, was the head of the Swindon end of a major drug dealing operation.

Undercover officers tailed him when he picked up Craig Wanless after an abortive meeting at the Swiss Chalet pub in Gorse Hill on January 15, 2002.

Wanless, of Braydon Court, Penhill, was heard discussing the £13,750 he owed Gibbs for drugs.

He complained about people who owed him large sums of money, including a local pub doorman.

The court was told that Gibbs had replied: "Right I'll have him taken out." He was then heard boasting that they wouldn't even get their hands dirty.

He then told Wanless, who said he had just been offered a job at Swindon Flooring, that he would let him have some cannabis, but not cocaine because he would put it up his nose.

"I'll chuck you a couple of kilos to get you back on your feet," Gibbs said.

Wanless was heard admitting that he had used some of the cocaine he had been supplied with.

Gibbs has already admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.

Wanless appears with seven other defendants: Mark Kirwan, 42, of Farrfield, Upper Stratton; Richard Brinsdon, 34, of Penhill Drive, Penhill; Tracy Bunce, 41, of Croft Road, Old Town; Graham Stratton, 32, of Ebbw Vale, South Wales; Colin Roy Butler, 58, of Bermondsey, London; his wife Winifred, 54 and their son Colin John, 35. They all deny conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Bunce, Stratton and Colin John Butler deny conspiring to supply cannabis a charge the other defendants have admitted.

The court heard that the hidden microphone which was planted on New Year's Eve in 2001 also picked up a telephone conversation between Gibbs and Butler senior. Gibbs was heard saying that he wanted to get the bill owed to Butler down. "I just don't like those sort of numbers out there. But I might go and do some rocks, 'cause it ain't too bad really," said prosecuting barrister Paul Cook reading from a transcript of the bugging recording.

Giving evidence behind a screen to protect his identity, surveillance officer PC David Fisher, told how Kirwan and William Livingstone, 35, of Lyndhurst Crescent, Park North, were arrested in Kirwan's Mondeo in the driveway of his house on February 12.

Livingstone later pleaded guilty to both conspiracy charges.

At the police station following the arrest Kirwan had said: "I was only doing it as a favour. I was driving because he doesn't have a licence."

Det Con Stephen Robinson from Wiltshire police's major crime support unit, said Gibbs' Mercedes, with its personalised number plate, was seen on January 27 parked in Newbury behind Butler senior's Audi.

Butler and Livingstone were seen talking on the pavement. The Mercedes was then tailed back towards Swindon.

The trial continues.

tclarke@newswilts.co.uk