THREE Lancashire mink farmers have won their fight for millions of pounds in compensation after the Government banned their trade.

Tony Coupe, of Daisy Barn Farm, Longridge, Terry Cartmell, of Almonds Farm, Whittingham, and John Duxbury, of Singeltons Farm, Woodplumpton, Preston secured the High Court victory with seven others from across the country.

Top judge, Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, accepted arguments that the current compensation scheme -- which gave the farmers just over £5million for the destruction of their once-thriving businesses -- was irrational, arbitrary and a violation of human rights.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs must now go back to square one in deciding how much should be paid to the farmers for their plight.

The National Farmers Union, who backed the case, said it will now be seeking £10-15million from the government.

The Union says the former mink farmers, who had to shut up shop when the ban on fur farming came into force in January, were left high and dry with compensation payments that come nowhere near meeting their losses.

The 10 were the only remaining mink farmers in England by the time the guillotine came down on their trade and make up the entire beleaguered membership of the once prosperous Fur Breeders Association.