A murdered businessman was buried in a shallow grave by two Harrow gangsters after he "screwed" one of them in a drug deal.

A court at the Old Bailey heard that drug smuggler Patrick Smith, 41, of Palmerston Court, Elmfield Close, Harrow, lured father-of-two Mark Levy, into a trap with the promise of buying knock-down price Rolexs.

Smith enlisted David Checkley to lure Mr Levy to a garage at Minavil House, Alperton, for the bogus business deal before abducting him under the noses of police, the court heard.

Smith was under surveillance by police for importing cannabis from Holland at the time businessman Mr Levy, 43, vanished in 2000.

Smith and his best friend Joseph Mercieca, 37, of Brancker Road, Kenton, allegedly bundled Mr Levy into the back of Smith's white Mercedes car then drove him to woods near his girlfriend's father's farm in Denham, Bucks, where they killed him.

Jurors heard Smith was busted for importing cannabis the day after the murder but police still had no idea about what had happened to Mr Levy.

But Smith's driver Arpit Patel, then 23, of Bilton Road, Alperton, was so shocked at the killing he told police everything and they found the shallow grave two days later.

Mr Patel told cops how Smith wanted revenge on Mr Levy for "screwing" him in a deal and had planned to "get him" on January 27, 2000.

Mr Levy was never seen alive again but one of the killers drove his Mercedes to Dover and left it by the docks to make it look as though he had fled the country.

Mr Dennis said: "What Smith had not appreciated was that the police had been keeping both himself and Patel under observance and had watched the delivery of the cannabis shipment."

On Friday January 28 they arrested both Patel and Smith, and Smith confessed to his part in the drug deal.

Patel told police what he had seen at the farm and two days later led police to the woods.

A shallow grave and a strip of parcel tape were found but there was no sign of a body. It is believed that by that time Mercieca had moved the body and Mr Levy's remains have still never been found, said Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting.

The trial continues.