A BROMSGROVE pensioner, who ran a £60million drugs ring, has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Robert Whitehouse, 70, formerly of Dusthouse Lane, Finstall, was the main organiser of UK operations within an international drugs syndicate.

The multi-million pound operation was organised from a small farm office in Kempsey, Worcestershire.

Birmingham Crown Court jailed the Bromsgrove pensioner for 22-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty in 2014 to conspiracy to import and supply drugs, including MDMA, amphetamine and cannabis.

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He later decided to challenge the conviction and the length of his sentence at the Court of Appeal, in the Royal Court of Justice, on Thursday, June 15.

But Judge Peter Collier QC, sitting with Justice Elisabeth Laing and Lady Justice Rafferty, dismissed his appeal.

They said there was no merit in his complaint, which was based on a claim that he had received bad advice from his lawyers.

Fellow ring member Robert Scott, of Broughton Hackett, Worcester, also challenged his 20-year prison sentence, but the appeal was dismissed.

West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police seized over £13.5m worth of drugs from Whitehouse’s ring in Operation Goal.

Officers found 1,000kg of cannabis, 64kg of amphetamines and 107kg of MDMA during the operation, which started in July 2013.

Whitehouse was told to hand over £442,945.67 at a confiscation hearing in October 2015.

West Mercia Police Inspector Andy Bailey previously said: "The sentences that these men have received, followed by the recent significant confiscation orders should send out a clear message to all criminals, or those thinking of getting involved in criminal activity, that crime does not pay."