Extradited drug dealer was Mr Big

John Barber fled to Spain with his pregnant legal secretary

John Barber - who has been extradited from Spain - was widely regarded as the Mr Big of the Bolton drugs underworld.

Along with his partner-in-crime Billy Webb, he ran a multi-million pound organisation from a small cafe in the town.

Dishing out beatings to those who crossed them, they ruled the town's underworld with an iron fist.

Barber was seen as the brains of the operation, while Mr Webb - shot dead in 2001 - offered the brawn.

Their highly organised firm paid its "workers" a salary and held regular board meetings between its directors.

Barber and Webb used Debbie's Diner as their HQ

Police knew who they were, but could not persuade small-scale dealers to give evidence against them.

They were too frightened of the gang's army of enforcers who sadistically beat anyone who crossed Barber and Mr Webb.

Offenders were attacked with baseball bats or hit on the head with hammers while some saw their girlfriends raped.

Even when the innocent five-year-old Dillon Hull died in 1997 after being hit by a bullet intended for his father, detectives could not persuade anyone to talk.

Police believed Mr Webb had ordered the shooting after Dillon's father John Bates refused to deal drugs for him, but their inquiries were met with a wall of silence.

Billy Webb was shot dead in a Wigan flat in May 2001

Undeterred, detectives started secretly taping the firm's board meetings in the former Debbie's Diner cafe and kept gang members under surveillance.

After an 18-month operation, they pounced, arresting the main players, including Mr Webb and Barber.

But as he awaited trial, Mr Webb was shot dead as he slept at a flat in Wigan in May 2001.

Detectives have since said they want to interview Barber over his murder.

Five members of the gang were jailed for their part in the conspiracy at Liverpool Crown Court in January 2002.

But Barber, who had jumped bail and fled to Spain with his pregnant legal secretary, was jailed for 22 years in his absence.

Judge David Swift described Barber as "a principal conspirator in the supply of drugs on a major scale".

Now the former Mr Big has found he has nowhere else to run to.