But Keith Spartley will serve 22 months behind bars after the jury found him guilty on two counts of possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Malcolm Spartley, 52, was also found guilty of the same offences and will serve one week less than his brother in prison.

At the hearing on Friday, Judge Peter Moss sentenced the Oswestry father-of-five to a total of 90 weeks in prison for the two counts of possessing cannabis.

The court heard that Keith Spartley moved to the rural hamlet of Glyn Morlas in January last year when he started doing “deliveries” for a man called “H”.

The 50-year-old told the court he believed the van was filled with contraband cigarettes and alcohol.

The trial, which lasted nearly two weeks, was told that police officers arrested Keith Spartley at a transport company in London on February 22 where he was due to pick up a delivery.

As he was being questioned in London, officers raided Keith Spartley’s rented home near Oswestry.

The officers discovered a barrel of cannabis near the stream at the bottom of his garden, and cannabis resin inside the house.

Police also discovered equipment, including a heat sealing machine to re-pack the drug in bags for re-sale.

Miss Tanya Woolls, prosecuting, told the jury that they were “brothers and partners in crime”.

During the trial Keith Spartley said he inhaled cannabis to help with his Multiple Sclerosis.

He bought a kilo of cannabis resin for £700 before moving from Essex.

But when he realised how much he had he started to sell it because he was running out of funds.

He said the barrel of skunk cannabis was given to him as payment for one of his delivery jobs for a man only known as “H” and he did not know what to do with it so had hidden it.

Both men denied conspiring to import ecstasy and two further charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

By Kirsty Marston

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