A DISGRACED boxing champion who led a double life as a drugs gang boss is back behind bars after he was convicted of stalking.

Justyn Hugh, from Newport, was jailed for 10 years in 2015 for heading a £500,000 operation to bring cocaine into South Wales.

His former wife was also convicted of possession of criminal property and was jailed for 18 months.

And on Monday Hugh, 36, was sent to prison for 18 weeks for stalking his ex-wife between July and October 2019.

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Newport Magistrates' Court heard how the ex-Welsh Area light heavyweight title holder subjected his wife to “fear and distress” during her three-month ordeal.

Hugh followed his victim, sent her unwanted text messages, bombarded her with 100 phone calls a day, went to her home uninvited and pulled up in front of a taxi she was travelling in.

The defendant, of Gore Street, pleaded guilty to stalking. The offences were committed in Newport.

Hugh was also made the subject of a four-year restraining order not to contact his ex-partner directly or indirectly.

He must also pay £100 towards prosecution costs and a £122 surcharge upon his release from custody.

A talented fighter, Hugh became the Welsh Area champion in September 2012 when he defeated Jeff Evans at Newport Centre.

But his life soon began to unravel and he pleaded guilty of conspiring to supply cocaine two years later after becoming involved in the criminal underworld while moonlighting as a drug dealer.

Hugh was jailed for 11 years at Cardiff Crown Court in January 2014, a tariff that was later cut to 10 years on appeal.

Five others in his crew were sentenced to more than 29 years in prison between them.

Gang boss Hugh brought five-and-a-half kilograms of cocaine into Gwent, with a street value of £500,000, between November 2012 and July 2013.

He would organise the transportation of the class A drug from London to South Wales.

Charges were brought following an eight-month police investigation involving extensive surveillance, which included a covert listening device being placed inside Hugh's car.

Sentencing him, Judge Hopkins told the boxer that his contacts in Albania and the Netherlands were "at the very heart of trafficking cocaine into the UK" adding that this was "significant offending with an enormous amount of cocaine".