A COUPLE have spoken of their shock at learning that one of their tenants was a drug dealer.

Alfie Broadbent and his wife, Ann, run a 50-acre farm on the edge of Stockton, Teesside.

They did not realise that while Mr Boadbent was out working in his fields, Kenneth Heslop was farming cannabis.

The 52-year-old was jailed for three years after he admitted producing and supplying a controlled drug, at Durham Crown Court on Friday.

Skunk cannabis plants were grown at a house he owned in Clifton Road, Darlington, and police recovered other plants from Brass Castle Cottage, Neasham.

Mrs Broadbent said she and her husband had been completely unaware of the dark side of the man who for six years rented a cottage on Sandyleas Farm where he lived with his partner and two foster children.

"Sandyleas is our home," said Mrs Broadbent, 60. "We are devastated. We had no inkling until we read about it in The Northern Echo.

"He just rented a cottage from us with a lady and two fostered children. This has come out of the blue.

"I am upset to the point of being close to tears. I don't know what our friends and neighbours will think, but we had nothing to do with this.''

Mrs Broadbent said she and her 60-year-old husband, who has farmed since he was 15, were totally opposed to drugs.

"They seem to be the ruination of young people today," she said.