A former shopkeeper who dodged charges of stocking and selling contraband cigarettes by going on the run for five years has had the case against him dropped.

Swindon Borough Council offered no evidence against Aram Salar saying they did not know how to get hold of the witnesses in the case.

But the 32-year-old did not walk away scot-free as he was jailed for two months for failing to surrender to custody.

Salar, formerly of Roseberry Street, had been living in Iraq after fleeing the country while the council were investigating his dealings at a Manchester Road shop.

He was due to appear at Swindon Crown Court in October 2012 facing a charge of breaching a trademark and another of money laundering.

When he failed to attend for the hearing Judge Douglas Field issued a warrant without bail for his arrest.

The case has been before the court almost every year since when a judge has been reviewing outstanding warrants.

In February this year Judge Tim Mousley QC said that a message had been sent from the council saying they could not proceed with the matter.

The Borough told the court that some of the witnesses 'have left the services of the council,' and there were other difficulties in the case.

Although the letter asked to be taken as the council, which is the prosecuting authority, offering no evidence the judge did not agree.

He said that there was still a possibility that he could be found so kept the case alive and also did not quash the warrant, as was requested.

After Salar returned to the country earlier this week he was arrested at the airport under the warrant and brought before the court.

And once he pleaded not guilty to the charges prosecutors formally offered no evidence and formal not guilty verdicts were entered on the two counts.

But the defendant, who in 2012 also gave the court an address in Bradford, West Yorkshire, received the jail term for failing to turn up for the hearing.

Salar had been alleged that he was the manager of a shop called Istanbul on Manchester Road when the alleged offences took place.

He was said to have sold the illicit cigarettes in October 2011 and made money through the sale of untaxed tobacco between September 2011 and February 2012.