The court heard Mark Williams, 52, became hooked on cocaine when he became an international businessman, and that he then acted as a "courier" for the proceeds of drug trafficking,

BBC Wales's Melanie Doel reports on the double life of a country newspaper editor

Mr Williams, former editor of the Brecon & Radnor Express, had pleaded guilty to laundering money said to be the process of drug deals between June 1996 and April 1997.

The prosecution said Williams knew or suspected that the money - more than £2m - was in whole or in part the proceeds of another person's drug trafficking.

The money was said to have been found in various places, including safe deposit boxes. Also contained in a safe deposit box was more than £17,000 worth of cocaine.

Williams, of Railsgate Farm, Kinnerton, Powys, also pleaded guilty to possessing 139 grammes of cocaine with intent to supply, on or before April 15, 1997, at the Metropolitan Safe Deposit Box Company in Chester Mews, Westminster.

Tracey Ayling, prosecuting, said Williams had previously been arrested at JFK Airport in New York.

Williams was arrested at Heathrow airport

He was later sentenced to 13 months imprisonment in May 1997 for "knowingly and willingly declaring" he only had a few hundred dollars in his pocket - when in fact, he was carrying $10,000 US dollars in a waistband and another $20,000 US dollars in his jacket.

After serving 11 and a half months of his sentence in America, he was escorted back to the UK where he was arrested at Heathrow Airport.

At that time, Williams was working for "Pearson International" of Kings Road, Chelsea.

John Wood QC, for Williams, said his client had previously been a respected journalist who had worked as news editor for Rolling Stone and the magazines 'Bike' and 'Which Bike?'.

The Brecon and Radnor Express is a traditional rural newspaper

He had also helped launch the New Music News, before becoming editor of the Brecon & Radnor Express.

Mr Wood told the court that Williams, who also received a character reference from Tim Ellis - the founder and chairman of London magazine 'Time Out', had started using cocaine as he was travelling the world for Pearson International.

As a courier, he had no knowledge of the nature of what was happening, although he admitted he must have suspected it, he said.

Mr Wood asked the court to accept that Williams had only made £15,000 from the payment and the cocaine found in the deposit box had been for his own use - although he accepted that of course, because of the amount, he would have passed some of it on.

'Genuine remorse'

Williams had shown genuine remorse and had undertaken drug rehabilitation, said Mr Wood.

His Honour Judge Nicholas Levy QC, sentencing Williams to three years in prison for his role as a courier, with two years concurrent for possessing cocaine with intent to supply, said he accepted he had been a gifted writer and publisher.

However, he had acted as a courier for others with money laundering and as such, custody was the only inevitable consequence.

Former reporter Nicholas Whitehead recalls the flamboyant editor

The judge added that he had taken into account the 11 and a half months Williams had spent in custody in the US in determining the length of sentence.

After the case, former reporter Nicholas Whitehead recalled Williams's 17-month stint as editor of the Brecon and Radnor Express, which serves some of Wales's most rural areas.

He said he had earned the nickname "Sparkly Mark" because of his colourful past and his glamorous lifestyle in the quiet market town of Brecon.

"I think he was the only person ever to crash a Maserati in Radnorshire," he said.