A BLAKEDOWN man jailed for his role in an intricately planned plot to import £55 million of cocaine concealed in a bulldozer blade did not get a day too long behind bars, Appeal Court judges have ruled.

Mark Reeves, 38, of Wheatmill Close, together with Rex Newport, 57, of Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd and Louis Hillard, 56, of no fixed address, was jailed for his part in a "massive" importation, which was "the largest single seizure" ever made by Customs at the time.

All three were convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine after a trial at Worcester Crown Court in April last year.

Reeves received 18 years in jail, Newport 20 years and Hillard 22 years. Newport's 36-year-old son, Duncan Newport, had an "executive" role in the conspiracy and was jailed for 26 years after he was convicted of the same offence. He did not appeal last Friday.

Mr Justice Openshaw - sitting with Lord Justice May and Judge Gordon - said the importation had been planned in the minutest detail, with "stooges" positioned at Felixstowe Harbour, where the cargo was landed, to receive the shipment and deflect possible Customs attention.

Customs officers, however, trailed the shipment back to a warehouse near Wolverhampton, where the cargo was unloaded, having installed CCTV equipment, which captured the final stages of the plot.

Reeves was in the act of cutting open the bulldozer's welded blade when officers struck, revealing a hollow inside the blade holding 642 packs of prime cocaine.

The court heard Reeves - a skilled welder - had previously travelled to Ecuador to work on the blade, cutting out a compartment in the blade, into which the packets were stored.

Hillard's role in the operation was to arrange the illicit cargo's shipment and general transit.

Rex Newport had a more low-level role, being involved in communicating information throughout the network of conspirators.

Mr Justice Openshaw said the three men's sentences were "not excessive". The massive scale of the plot merited stiff sentences, he concluded.