A Warwickshire man who admitted possessing cannabis with a street value of £8.8 million has been jailed for seven years.

Dean Merrick, of Church Street, Bulkington, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply last October.
The 42-year-old roofer was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.

The court heard that in July last year officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit of West Midlands Police seized three tonnes of cannabis resin from two lockable units rented by Merrick.

He was described as a "warehouse man", responsible for receiving pallets of drugs and storing them in his units.

The six pallets of drugs seized by police had a wholesale value of approximately £3 million but could have fetched about £8.8 million on the street, the court was told.

It was the biggest seizure of cannabis ever made by West Midlands Police and was believed to be the largest haul of cannabis resin recovered by any police force in the UK last year.

Mr David Hislop, defending, said Merrick had been "naive" and had made a "monumental error of judgment", adding that he was not involved in the "procurement or onward distribution" of the drugs.

Sentencing, Judge Robert Orme said: "By any standards that is a very very substantial amount of cannabis resin."