Two men told to pay £200,000 after their cannabis farm was discovered in Calne have lost a bid to take their case to the country’s highest court.
Richard Lambert, 57, and Ian Walding, 45, were today refused permission by three top judges to take their challenge to the confiscation orders to the Supreme Court.
The pair were prosecuted for producing cannabis after a 400-plant farm on the Porte Marsh Industrial Estate, in Calne, was uncovered by police in September 2008.
Lambert, of Oakdale, Welwyn Garden City, and Walding, of Hinton Parva, near Swindon, were jailed for 27 months at Swindon Crown Court in 2010.
After handing out the jail terms, the trial judge made confiscation orders requiring each to pay over more than £100,000 in criminal proceeds.
Last month, at the Court of Appeal, their lawyers arguing the orders interfered with the men’s right to “peaceful enjoyment of property” under the Human Rights Convention.
Their appeal failed, but their legal team applied to take their case before the top judges in the land.
Refusing the application on Tuesday, Mr Justice Treacy said: “In this matter there has been an application to certify a point of law of general public importance.
“After due consideration, the members of the court who sat in this matter on January 26, 2012, declined to certify any such point.”
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