Gang intrudes on Girls Aloud star

Nadine Coyle was at home with her mother when the gang arrived

A drugs gang searching for a safe house to stash cocaine entered the luxury home of a Girls Aloud pop star thinking it was empty, a court heard.

The men were given the keys to the flat in Princess Manor Park, Friern Barnet, north London, by a letting agent who thought Nadine Coyle had moved out.

She confronted the men and told them to leave, Harrow Crown Court was told.

Jason Anderson, Marc Fisher and Ewart Henry deny conspiring to supply 42kg of cocaine in August 2005.

Another man, Bryan Miller, is also charged with conspiring to supply the drug, but is not before the court.

Prosecutor Nick Corsellis said Nadine Coyle and her mother had been relaxing in her lounge when the gang gained entry to her flat.

"As you may imagine she asked what they were doing there and they replied that Mr Fisher had given them the keys," he told Harrow Crown Court.

Some of the residents were famous - a good cover perhaps as it is not the sort of place where you expect to find a cache of drugs Prosecutor Nick Corsellis

"She then invited them to leave which they did."

Mr Corsellis said Mr Fisher had been recruited by the gang to find them a flat in the 30-acre exclusive development.

The gang later found an empty apartment in the upmarket converted hospital development, with the alleged help of letting agent Mr Fisher.

Mr Corsellis claimed the men regarded it as the ideal location for their wholesale drugs shop, where more than £2m of the drug could be stored.

"Some of the residents were famous - a good cover perhaps as it is not the sort of place where you expect to find a cache of drugs," he said.

"It provided an element of secrecy, with a gatehouse and a guard, so potential drugs competitors would be warned off to some degree."

The court heard shortly after, during a police raid, officers watched as Mr Miller and Mr Anderson met Mr Henry on the estate to hand over several kilograms of cocaine.

Officers recovered blocks of cocaine from the gang's two-bedroom flat, each with a street value of £50,000, totalling 42kg.

Mr Anderson, 33, from, Northolt, Middlesex, Mr Fisher, from Totteridge, north London, and Mr Henry, 43, from Chatham, Kent, deny conspiring to supply 42kg of cocaine on or before August 24 2005.

The trial continues.