THE jury is out in cocaine and cannabis conspiracy trial involving the alleged trafficking of drugs from Worcestershire to Devon.

A jury has heard evidence of several alleged conspiracies, including one involving a cannabis grow at Leigh, near Worcester. The jury has now retired to consider verdicts in the ongoing trial at Worcester Crown Court.

Karl Browning, Sinead Lavelle and Vander Browning deny conspiracy to supply class A drugs (cocaine) between January 1, 2018 and June 1 last year.

Tim Valentine denies conspiracy to produce cannabis and conspiracy to supply cannabis between January 1, 2018 and June 1 last year. Darren Pegler denies conspiracy to produce cannabis between August 1, 2018 and November 1, 2020.

The defendants are Karl Browning, 42, of Hurcott Road, Kidderminster; Sinead Lavelle, 33, of Saxon Way, Droitwich; Darren Pegler, 40, of Coronation Road, Kidderminster; Timothy Valentine, 42, of Beacon Hill, Bridgnorth and Vander Browning, 42, of Usmere Road, Kidderminster.

Gareth Pegler, the partner of Lavelle, brother of Vander Browning and Darren Pegler and brother-in-law of Karl Browning, had already admitted being involved in the cocaine and cannabis conspiracies.

Other cannabis factories were found in a room above Forty Fathoms Aquatic in Greatfield Road, Kidderminster and at an address in Queen Elizabeth Road in Kidderminster.

Judge Martin Jackson, who presided over the trial, finished summing up the case to the jury this morning shortly before noon and asked them to reach unanimous verdicts, telling them that they would be called back into court if a time came when a majority verdict would be accepted.

He added: "There's no pressure of time in reaching your verdicts in this case."

We have previously heard that the prosecution case is that cocaine was transported to Ilfracombe in Devon by some of the alleged conspirators. A defendant in the cannabis production conspiracy, Darren Pegler, says he had not been aware of any grow at Orchard Way in Leigh when he visited the property on September 12, 2019. Photographs of the Pegler brothers and Karl Browning wearing gloves were captured by a police surveillance team.

Darren Pegler said he had been wearing gloves because he was there to fix the washing machine.

Valentine said he had no idea there was a cannabis grow above his shop - Forty Fathoms in Kidderminster - and that messages between him and Gareth Pegler were about aquatic supplies, including corals, not about cannabis.

The trial continues.