The boyfriend of Towie star Cara Kilbey has admitted taking cocaine and socialising with dealers, despite her disapproval of drugs.

Daniel Harris, 33, is accused of being the boss of a criminal empire, making vast profits by dispatching couriers on scooters to deliver cocaine around central London.

The prosecution allege Harris was at the heart of the three-and-a-half-year operation, turning over nearly £500,000 of the Class A drug each week.

Giving evidence in his Old Bailey trial, Harris, who has a young daughter with Ms Kilbey, denied involvement.

The court heard that Harris met Ms Kilbey in Spain in summer 2014 and moved back to Britain to live with her in Theydon Bois.

Asked what her attitude towards drugs was, he said: "She was against them."

His barrister David Whittaker asked: "Was she aware of the involvement of some of the people you associated with in the supply of drugs?"

Harris replied: "Yeah."

He told jurors he went to pubs and parties with members of the drugs gang, who have pleaded guilty to the cocaine plot.

He became friends with one of them through a shared interest in going out "chasing girls", football, horse-racing and gambling, he said.

Harris said he found out some of his friends were involved in drug dealing during a ski holiday in the Swiss resort of Verbier in January 2015.

He said: "We were in a bar. We were all there. I like a drink and I do on occasions take cocaine. He [one of the convicted dealers] asked me, when I'm out in central London, to speak to them and he will get someone to deliver cocaine."

Harris told jurors he would "very occasionally" take cocaine and only once took up the offer.

His barrister asked: "Is your knowledge of people involved in drugs limited to those individuals I have referred to? Does it extend to members of your own family?"

Harris, who speaks with a Liverpudlian accent, replied: "Yeah, me dad."

Mr Whittaker said: "There will be an admission that your father was arrested on December 14 2015 for importation of cocaine from Spain.

"It is not suggested that you were involved with him in those drugs."

The defendant replied he was in "no way" connected with his father's alleged criminality but said he had been aware of it for 10 years.

Harris, who was under surveillance until his arrest in March last year, is also accused of a £200,000 heroin deal which was scuppered by police in May 2015.

Although he admitted association with the cocaine conspirators, he denied knowing or meeting any of the men who were solely involved in the heroin plot.

Harris denies all the charges against him and the trial continues.