THE wife of a Bolton lorry driver accused of involvement in a £1million drugs operation refused to divulge where she had hidden part of £10,000 in cash, a court was told.

Lynette Hatton, who was recalled to the witness box, said she had moved some of the cash into her parents' bank account and the rest to a "safe place" which she declined to reveal.

Earlier in the trial at Bolton Crown Court, her lorry driver husband denied that a £10,000 banker's draft was his payment for a drug smuggling run to the Continent.

Michael Hatton said the cash had been given to him by his parents to pay for drug fertility treatment for him and his wife.

Mrs Hatton said that while her husband was in prison on remand, she had heard that the bank accounts of others involved in the trial had been frozen.

She said she was determined that the £10,000 would be used for hospital treatment, and not frozen, so she withdrew the cash in different amounts over a period of time.

She transferred some cash to her parents' account and hid the rest in a safe place which she would not reveal.

Mrs Hatton produced receipts and said she had paid almost £6,000 in cash for fertility treatment which resumed when her husband was bailed.

Hatton, aged 38, of Thistleton Road, Bolton, mechanic Thomas Bradley, aged 37, of Knightswood, Bolton, and their boss Victor Davies, aged 48, of Stratton Drive, Platt Bridge, Wigan, have denied smuggling £1million worth of cocaine and heroin in a lorry airtank and of attempting to money launder the proceeds of drug smuggling.

They are jointly accused of being knowingly involved in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of goods. They deny the offence.

Davies has denied two further charges of attempting to remove from the jurisdiction the proceeds of his drug trafficking.

Hatton faces two charges of knowing or suspecting that a quantity of banknotes were the proceeds of drug trafficking and attempting to remove them to assist another person to avoid prosecution. He denied the charges.

The prosecution said the case involved smuggling cocaine and heroin worth more than £1 million on the streets.

The jury heard how a secret compartment in an articulated lorry was used to allegedly smuggle 17 kilos of 100 per cent pure cocaine and heroin from Europe to the UK.

The court was told that Customs officers co-operated with Belgian police in tracking the lorry across several countries before it was stopped as the drugs were allegedly transferred from the lorry to a four-wheel drive in Liverpool.

The three were arrested in the surprise swoop at Vic Davies Transport at Knowsley Industrial Estate, Liverpool, after Bradley had was seen transferring a box to a Mitsubishi four-wheel drive.

(Proceeding)