A FATHER-of-four who was caught with a bag full of drugs in his car was jailed for three years on Wednesday.

The haul of 20kg of cannabis resin was discovered after William Strover was arrested at a Sainsburys petrol station in Ashford on another matter.

His Ford Orion was taken to the town’s police station, where it was searched and the drug, which has a street value of £50,000, was discovered.

Strover, of Bushy Royds, Willesborough, denied all knowledge of the cannabis, but a jury convicted him of possessing it with intent to supply.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the 55-year-old was arrested on January 3 this year on a motoring matter. He was searched and found to have £1,123 in cash.

Miss Adaku Oragwu, prosecuting, told the jury: "In the boot of the car was found a green holdall containing 80 9oz bars of cannabis resin."

Strover claimed the car had been bought by someone on his behalf in Maidstone for £220 and given to him four hours before his arrest. He had not opened the boot, he said.

He claimed that the money on him had been saved from his disability benefit and selling items at boot fairs.

Strover said in evidence that he was not prepared to reveal who had bought the car for him, adding: "I’ve got children and grandchildren."

Mr Recorder Polden rejected a suggestion by Paul Casey, defending, that sentence should be adjourned for reports.

Mr Casey said Strover had an "unfixed lifestyle". There was nothing to suggest, he said, that he was higher up the chain than a courier who was transporting drugs between two points.

Strover’s life had been hit by tragedy. His second wife died of cancer and his third died, also of cancer, on Christmas Day 2000.

He then isolated himself, living alone in Dover. He had since moved in with one of his sons.

Mr Casey said of Strover, who suffers from diabetes and arthritis: "He now finds himself in his mid-50s facing a serious sentence."

Recorder Polden said he accepted that others were involved with the drug and Strover was acting as a courier.

The sentencing bracket for such an offence, he said, was up to four years imprisonment.

"The quantity of cannabis brings it up to the top of that bracket," he said. "The mitigation enables me to reduce the sentence to three years."