THE head of a drugs gang known as The Firm has been found guilty on three charges of supplying illegal drugs.

Matthew Glover, 39, was convicted by a unanimous jury at Preston Crown Court after more than eight hours' deliberation.

The married father-of-five of Foxstones Lane, Cliviger, had denied three charges of conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate, and cannabis resin between September 1, 1999 and February 6, 2001.

Co-defendant Anthony Lockwood, 41, of Stock Lane, Middop, Gisburn, was found guilty of one charge. The jury has yet to reach a decision on the other two counts.

The men were arrested in February last year as a result of a police operation code named 'Norfolk'.

The prosecution alleged that they were part of a large scale criminal conspiracy operating in the north of England.

Glover was said to have been the leader of the gang and the court heart that he enjoyed an affluent lifestyle, though he was said to avoid 'getting his hands dirty'.

Examples of Glover's lifestyle included moving from a modest terrace house in Chapel Street, Nelson, to a large country house in Cliviger and paying for foreign holidays in cash.

He claimed to be a traveller who made his money from selling a variety of goods and that he had won a hundred thousand pounds worth of jewellery playing snooker in a Burnley club.

He also claimed that taped phone conversations where he is heard to talk about 'R and Rs' was a reference to cigarettes not, as the prosecution claimed, a type of ecstasy.

All his claims were dismissed by the jury which was expected to to deliver verdicts on the two remaining charges against Lockwood today.