THE owners of two village homes near a fire-hit barn in which cannabis plants were found, this week expressed their surprise at the discovery.It was Steve and Maxine Jones, of the adjacent Mill Farm House, Winterton who smelled smoke at 7am on Saturday, January 23 while tending to their horses in their stable, sited a metre away from the barn, which is not under their ownership.

THE owners of two village homes near a fire-hit barn in which cannabis plants were found, this week expressed their surprise at the discovery.

It was Steve and Maxine Jones, of the adjacent Mill Farm House, Winterton who smelled smoke at 7am on Saturday, January 23 while tending to their horses in their stable, sited a metre away from the barn, which is not under their ownership.

Mr Jones, who works in the offshore industry in Great Yarmouth, explained how his wife had called the fire service and their horses were taken out of the stables to a safe distance away.

Meantime, he crossed over into the next property to check around the barn to make sure there was no-one inside, but it was heavily padlocked.

When the firefighters arrived, Mr Jones said they had taken about 15 minutes to break into the barn and because of what they had found, the police were called.

The fire was described by the fire service as "reasonably small" in the barn's roof and later pinpointed to an electrical fault. Inside were 200 cannabis plants valued at around �2,000.

Mr Jones, who has lived at Mill Farm House for 11 years, said the barn was owned by someone who did not live in Winterton.

The discovery also came as a shock to Mrs Carole Martin, of Mill Farm, which is on the other side the road to the barn.

The retired owner of C H Martin Engineering had her daughter and son in law from Norwich staying with her at the time, and all three were surprised that unbeknown to them, drugs were in the process of being cultivated.

The site on which the barn stands, Mr Jones believed, is called Mill Farm Buildings and comprises three buildings which appear structurally sound and other dilapidated buildings including a cowshed.

Mill Farm Buildings is in no way connected to the properties of either Mr and Mrs Jones or Mrs Martin.

The report in The Mercury last week was written from information supplied, and we apologise for any embarrassment or distress caused to Mr and Mrs Jones and Mrs Martin.