THREE men have been convicted of involvement in a major drugs conspiracy which centred on a stately home in the Eden Valley.

Dean Cameron, 53, Philip Branigan, 32, and Charles Neophytou, 47, denied playing roles in a plot based at the Grade II-listed Flass mansion in Maulds Meaburn, near Penrith.

This took place over 13 months up to May, 2012. Police estimated that illegal cannabis bush with a street value of up to £5.2 million could have been produced during that time.

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The three men denied a charge of conspiring to supply the class B drug. But after a trial at Carlisle Crown Court lasting almost three weeks, they were today each found guilty of the offence by a jury.

Cameron, of Whitehall Park Road, London; Neophytou, of Hutton Grove, also London; and Branigan, of Banstead, Surrey, were told by Judge Paul Batty QC that jail terms of considerable length were "inevitable".

The trio were remanded in custody and are due to be sentenced at the crown court in late September.

So, too, will five other men - all with addresses outside of Cumbria - who previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.