An Ashtead man was found guilty today of being a drug dealer for Britain's largest ever cannabis smuggling ring.

James Hay, of Stonny Croft, was found guilty after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.

But a woman accused of keeping deal books for another drug dealer was acquitted.

The verdict is the end of two back-to-back trials which have heard months of evidence against the network, which smuggled as much as £70m of skunk cannabis into the UK.

Before the trial another 10 people, including the four bosses of the network, admitted being connected to the cannabis smuggling ring which brought the drugs into the UK from Holland hidden in flower boxes.

They stored the drugs and money in lock-ups in Kingston, Surbiton, Ashtead and Epsom.

A trial before Christmas convicted a currency exchange owner from East London of laundering money for the bosses of the network, sending millions out of the country.

Today, a jury decided 31-year-old Hay was a minor dealer for the network.

Hay was arrested on May 16, 2008, with 20kg of skunk cannabis in the boot of his car after a drug deal with convicted drug dealer Timothy Sullivan in the Queen's Head in Epsom.

He tried, unsuccessfully, to claim Sullivan had been spooked by undercover officers into dumping the drugs on him.

But the jury cleared Mandy Cripps, 34, of High Wycombe, the girlfriend of Roger Alexander, a drug dealer who has already pleaded guilty.

She had admitted writing in what the prosecutors described as examples of deal books but said her dyslexic boyfriend had told her what to write.

Three other men were cleared earlier in the week, including Lindsay Graham, 42, of Bushey Road, Sutton, bringing the total acquitted in the latest trial to four out of five accused.

For more visit www.surreycomet.co.uk/operationakarnak