THE chance discovery of a £750,000 cash hoard buried in a north Worcestershire pigsty sparked a bizarre tale which could have been written by Jeffrey Archer, a court was told.

The money was hidden in two locked iron boxes by a wealthy character known as Del Boy, who was intending to move to Portugal before he was killed in a car crash.

The two finders shared the cash with friends but when the news leaked out, an armed gang set upon one man and so terrified the others that they handed over the money.

Worcester Crown Court was told a fifth man had fled to Devon where he and his girlfriend were living in hotels and changing 500 euro notes every day.

Matthew Cushing, aged 30, of Franches Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham; Jack Hodges, 25, of St Andrew’s Road, Droitwich; Daniel Kearney, 23, of Beechnut Close, Solihull; and Carl Harrison, 25, of Newquay, Cornwall, all admitted possession and use of criminal property.

They were each given an 18-month community order.

Cushing, Harrison and Hodges were each ordered to do 180 hours’ unpaid work. Kearney must do 140 hours.

Alex Warren, prosecuting, said police were alerted in April last year when Hodges complained he’d been threatened by men who had learned about his discovery of the safes during a shooting trip.

He had been on land at Hopwood belonging to Philip Hickman, who said his brother Kevin could have buried the money.

Kevin, whom he described as Del Boy, was killed in an accident in March 2008.

There was £40,000 alongside €700,000. Friends of Hodges dug up the safes, one cut them open with an oxy-acetelyne cutter, and another threw them into a reservoir.

The money was split but when news of the find leaked out, an armed gang descended upon Hodges and beat him up.

He told the others and they handed back most of the cash except Jamie Darby, who fled south.

Mr Warren said Darby had been traced but had given ‘no comment’ interviews and had yet to be prosecuted.

Matthew Barnes, for Cushing, said it was a bizarre true story which Jeffrey Archer would have been proud of.

The money was obviously illegitimate because it was smelly and dirty and had been there for some time, he said.

Recorder Robert Spencer-Bernard said it was clear it was criminal money but there had been a degree of greed shown by the defendants.

The offending was out of character but they had succumbed to temptation.