A “playboy” drug dealer who sparked a fresh novichok scare after collapsing in a Salisbury restaurant has been jailed, while still on the run.

Alex King disappeared in December and did not attend his trial for a series of offences at Southwark Crown Court.

The 42-year-old was jailed for 11 years in his absence, after Southwark Crown Court heard evidence that he sold drugs and arranged high-class escorts for money.

King sparked a major incident in September, when he fell ill while dining at a branch of the Prezzo Italian chain in Salisbury with his wife.

Anna Shapiro, a Russian-born model, told The Sun she was a victim of a Kremlin plot, claiming: “Vladimir Putin wants me dead.”

She claimed she found her husband “foaming at the mouth” in the toilet, before falling ill herself.

Because of the similarity between King’s symptoms and nerve agent poisoning, just months after Dawn Sturgess died of accidental exposure to novichok, specialist teams treated the pair and shut down the restaurant.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter had collapsed after eating at a nearby Zizzi restaurant in the first attack in March.

Authorities swiftly ruled out novichok, but said a “highly precautionary approach” was taken by emergency services who treated the couple wearing protective suits.

Ms Shapiro’s solicitors later denied accusations of a hoax and said her “fears were genuine”.

Weeks before the incident, the couple had to be rescued by the RNLI off the coast of Wales after their boat ran out of fuel.

Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Show all 40 1 /40 Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators, wearing protective suits, emerge with bagged evidence from the rear of John Baker House in Salisbury, after it was confirmed that two people living in Amesbury had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok. Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three from Durrington, died after being exposed to novichok Facebook Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok. Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Officers hope that Charlie Rowley, whose partner Dawn died in hospital, can help them establish how the couple came to be contaminated AFP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok An investigator in a chemical suit works behind screens erected in Rollestone Street PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel arrive with safety equipment at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent novichok, in Amesbury Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police and military personnel seized a car from a quiet residential street in Swindon as part of their ongoing investigations into the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and Amesbury SWNS Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency workers in military protective suits search the fenced off John Baker House AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A forensic investigator, wearing a protective suit, emerges from the rear of John Baker House, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok, in Amesbury, Britain, July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls HENRY NICHOLLS Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Tents set up by search teams are seen at the end of Rollestone Street, outside the John Baker House for homeless people in Salisbury. British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok. AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police activity at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police tents are erected outside a residential address in Amesbury, southern England, on July 6, 2018 where police reported a man and woman were found unconscious in circumstances that sparked a major incident after contact with what was later identified as the nerve agent Novichok. Police on July 6, 2018, raced to find the object that contaminated a British couple with the Soviet-made Novichok nerve agent in southwestern England where a former Russian spy was poisoned with the same toxin four months ago. / AFP PHOTO / Chris J RatcliffeCHRIS J RATCLIFFE/AFP/Getty Images CHRIS J RATCLIFFE AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at the house in Muggleton Road in Amesbury PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Members of the emergency services at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Gas masks AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic tents outside John Baker House on Rolleston Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, where counter-terrorism police are investigating after a couple were left in a critical condition when they were exposed to the nerve agent Novichok. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday July 6, 2018. Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, were taken ill on Saturday in Amesbury, around eight miles from where former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with the same substance in Salisbury in March. See PA story POLICE Amesbury. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire Sam Blewett PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel prepare safety equipment Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police investigators arrive at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A police officer stands guard behind the housing estate REUTERS Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police on the scene Getty Images Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The couple remain in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok In March Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Russian-made Novichok in the town of Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Russia of being behind the attack on the former spy and his daughter, expelling 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation Getty Images Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are cordoning off places the people are known to have visited before falling ill EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police officers stand outside a residential property in Amesbury AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement to the press outside The Bowman Centre after Wiltshire Police declared the situation a major incident Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury resident Sam Hobson, speaks to assembled press outside Amesbury Baptist Centre claiming to be a friend of the man and woman exposed to an unknown substance Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The pair were found unconscious at an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police cordon at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury. The town is around 10 miles from Salisbury where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in a suspected nerve agent attack PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police officers stand outside Boots pharmacy, near to the Barcroft Medical Centre in Amesbury PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre PA

No hint was given over King’s whereabouts as he was sentenced for two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, one of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and one of conspiracy to supply class C drugs on Friday.

Southwark Crown Court heard he was last seen leaving a flat with his wife near Harley Street, in central London, on 17 December.

“They were seen by his landlord, the pair of them, loading up the car with their property, both healthy, leaving an address he was living at in breach of his bail conditions, and they have not been seen since,” said Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith.

He started proceedings to confiscate cash and assets gained through drug dealing, warning King’s absence from court would not work in his favour.

King’s barrister, Leon Kazakos, said he has not had any contact with his client, who had been living a “flashy lifestyle, which has been hired rather than purchased”.

He was originally arrested in June 2016, when police found him in bed with Ms Shapiro in a rented Marylebone flat.

Officers found a block of 90 per cent cocaine, MDMA powder, ecstasy pills bearing the Just Eat logo, crack cocaine, ketamine and diazepam, with a street value of around £60,000 in a safe.

‘Playboy’ drug dealer Alex King was sentenced to 11 years in prison while still on the run (PA)

But the court heard King then feigned injury and illness to avoid trial, until the Salisbury incident offered a fresh chance to pin him down.

King’s associate, Baljit Gill, who lived with his parents in Welling, southeast London, was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of conspiring to sell class A drugs after a separate trial.

Sebastian Gardiner, defending Gill, described King as a “very bizarre” character who lived a “glamorous, albeit seedy, existence”, making money from arranging parties, selling drugs and supplying high-class escorts to his VIP clients.

“Mr King was a socialite who met with the rich and famous – he craved that sort of involvement and attention,” he said.

“He was always keen to have a photo of him taken with anybody deemed to be a celebrity.”

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Baljit Gill (left) and Alex King. (PA)

King had taken photographs and videos of drugs and himself with his merchandise, which were found on his mobile phone, while Gill had recorded himself arranging a drug deal.

King is friends with “fast Eddie” Davenport, the infamous high society party planner and convicted fraudster who reportedly organised a New Year’s Eve event where a bouncer was stabbed to death.

King was named as Mr Davenport’s press representative in a 2008 Independent interview conducted at his West End mansion.

King and Ms Shapiro are listed as directors of a company called Gem Locations UK Limited, which offers “motion picture production activities” and real estate management, with a registered address at 32 Portland Place.

Wiltshire Police continues to investigate the incident at Prezzo, while Scotland Yard are appealing for help to trace King.

Detective Constable Dharmesh Bakrania said: “King has repeatedly delayed and frustrated attempts to bring him to justice.

“I would urge anyone that knows of his whereabouts to contact police immediately.”