Drugs Mr Big George "Dode" Buchanan sent to jail
A heroin "Mr Big" has been jailed for five years and five months after being convicted of drug dealing in Edinburgh.
George "Dode" Buchanan, 54, convinced his friend Robert Gilroy to store heroin at his Craigmillar flat.
Buchanan was earlier found guilty of being concerned in the supply of heroin between 1 February and 25 June 2010.
Gilroy, 50, was sentenced to four years three months, after earlier pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin between March and June 2010.
The pair were sentenced at the High Court in Dundee.
Detectives swooped after Gilroy's estranged wife went to police.
She also gave details of Gilroy's drug-dealing activities alongside a man called "Dode".
Her information enabled officers to raid 50-year-old Gilroy's home in Edinburgh's Castleview Avenue and find heroin worth up to £143,000 hidden under the floorboards.
During a police interview, Gilroy told the officers he would need to be given a new identity if he named his boss, telling them: "This guy is big."
Gilroy and his estranged wife, Lesley, have now been placed into the witness protection programme, and both were guarded by a team of uniformed and undercover officers during the trial.
The court heard that Gilroy was used by Buchanan, described by police insiders as an "arrogant, violent bully", to store and sell heroin from his flat.
Lesley, the mother of Gilroy's three children, had been told of the drugs scheme by her husband, while their children, aged 18, 12 and 10, had witnessed deals taking place.
She went to police on 24 June last year after receiving threatening and abusive texts from Gilroy.
Defence lawyer Vincent Belmonte, for Buchanan, said he still denied the charges and described Gilroy's account of events as "fantasy".