A drugs gang behind a multi-million pound ‘legal highs’ operation has been jailed following a trial which heard evidence from a former regional daily reporter.

The former Swindon Advertiser reporter, who has since asked to have his name removed from this story, was called to the stand after conducting an investigation into a website selling the drugs while working on the paper in 2012.

His investigation involved speaking to a young man in Swindon who identified a company called Wide Mouth Frogs as a source of legal highs.

The reporter made purchases from the website as part of his exposé, and then proved through laboratory tests that one of the products contained a Class B substance.

Police had separately launched the biggest ever investigation into the mail order of legal highs in a bid to crack the Wide Mouth Frogs operation, run from an industrial estate in Bolton.

The reporter, who has since turned freelance, was called as a prosecution witness at the trial where the jury and lawyers were given copies of one of his articles and he was asked about his research.

Gang boss Paula White was jailed for nine years for conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, while six co-conspirators were also sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on Friday.

The journalist said: “I was talking to users of a street outreach service who told me of the harm that so-called legal highs were causing. They identified a website called Wide Mouth Frogs as one of the main sources of supply of the substances.

“After ordering three products and testing them at a lab it confirmed one contained a Class B substance.

“I’m glad that investigative journalism has assisted police and prosecutors in breaking up a criminal operation.”

Other newspapers to have campaigned on the issue of legal highs in recent years include the Southern Daily Echo, North West Evening Mail and Kent Messenger.