A DRUG courier who went on the run for more than a decade before handing himself in will have to wait a little longer to discover his fate.

Middlesbrough businessman Zaffer Majid was due to be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court earlier today for an offence going back as far as 1999.

But his case was delayed further when Judge George Moorhouse decided not to deal with it because a different judge had charge of it originally.

A second defendant "surprisingly" received a suspended prison term in 2001, and Judge Moorhouse said the same judge should sentence Majid.

The 48-year-old was arrested with another man as part of an undercover operation run by what was then known as the National Crime Squad.

Operation Paisley was mounted in the 1990s to target the supply of large quantities of heroin in Middlesbrough and beyond, the court was told.

Majid was seen leaving a house in the town on April 21, 1999 with a sports bag before driving to the Cleveland Health Spa which he owned.

The bag - containing high quality heroin worth £25,000 in bulk or more than £37,500 if split into deals - was found in the reception area of the spa.

A search of the house he had left earlier uncovered drugs worth more than £48,000 on the street, Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, told the court.

A 60-year-old man who lived at the house was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, when he appeared in court in July 2001.

Majid, of Egmont Road, Middlesbrough, failed to turn up for his trial, is thought to have fled to Pakistan and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

He finally gave himself up last summer after returning to the UK, but the court heard today that his time on the run was problem-plagued.

Majid's barrister, Balbir Singh, said his client had lived in abject poverty and suffered three heart attacks while he was in Pakistan.

"Plainly he has not been a well man, plainly he has not lived a good life and clearly came back voluntarily to face the music," said Mr Singh.

"It was very, very courageous of him, being an ill man, to come back . . . since he has been back in the country, he has tried to rebuild his life."

After his arrest, Majid told police that he had gambling debts and was frightened of the people for whom he was working to courier drugs.

The court heard that Majid had the stash of heroin in his possession for just a short while and was under instructions to deliver it within an hour.

Judge Moorhouse told him: "Your co-accused was given, to my surprise, a suspended sentence by another judge in this court.

"It is only appropriate and just that you, too, are sentenced by the same judge who may be more familiar with the case and the background of your co-accused."