A NORTH YORKSHIRE man who has been on the run for more than two years was today behind bars after admitting supplying drugs and growing cannabis.

George Martin Bell, 50, from School Road, Hemingbrough, near Selby, disappeared after designer drugs worth more than £230,000 were discovered in a house in Hull.

It is believed he initially fled to Spain - prompting a Crimewatch appeal - but was caught at a remote house in Cornwall running a small 100-plant cannabis drugs operation, apparently living undetected for some time. The case follows the discovery of £234,000-worth of drugs in Cranbrooke Avenue, Hull, in August 2000.

In the loft of the rented house police found plastic bags, a leather grip and cardboard box, with £5,000-worth of cocaine, £53,000-worth of ecstasy tablets, and £176,000-worth of amphetamines, along with scientific scales and a food blender still containing cocaine.

The total value was £234,000. Two bags of amphetamine worth £414 were found in a mosaic vase in the bedroom.

Bell was a major suspect, but disappeared before the case came to court.

At Hull Magistrates Court yesterday, he pleaded guilty to nine charges of supplying illegal drugs in Hull and growing cannabis in Cornwall.

He was arrested at a remote farmhouse near Launceston following a joint operation between Humberside Police serious crime unit and Devon and Cornwall Police on Tuesday.

The house had about 100 cannabis plants growing under electric lighting with sophisticated watering equipment.

Bell pleaded guilty to supplying amphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis resin at various dates over a four-year period. He also admitted charges of growing cannabis plants in Hull in 2000 or supplying them to others.

Deputy District Judge Helen Cousins told Bell he would be sentenced by a judge at Hull Crown Court on March 26. He was remanded in custody.

Updated: 10:29 Friday, March 05, 2004