SONS of a respected farmer were starting lengthy custodial sentences last night for involvement in drug dealing.

David Cairns, 25, who stored and dealt cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis from a disused quarry beside the family's farm in east Durham, was jailed for eight years. His brother, Richard, 19, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence in a young offenders' institution.

They were sentenced yesterday at Durham Crown Court.

The court was told police kept watch on Pesspool Hall Farm and the adjoining Tuthill Quarry, in Haswell, for a month.

James Adkin, prosecuting, said drugs were stored in plastic bags in the quarry.

David was arrested on April 14 last year at the quarry, from where 500g of cocaine, 4,162 ecstasy tablets and 1,500g of cannabis, worth an estimated £69,000, were recovered.

On the same day, Richard was in possession of 24g of cocaine and 9g of cannabis resin.

Mr Adkin said police also recovered £4,000 from Richard's bedroom, and £6,100 hidden in a baby seat in a car.

Letters of apology were handed in by the brothers' barristers and which spoke of their remorse for the shame they had brought on their father, Ian.

David, of Christchurch Place, Peterlee, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

Richard, of Pesspool Hall Farm, admitted possession of cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.