A Northern Ireland lorry driver accused of trying to smuggle nearly £1m of cannabis into the UK has spoken of his relief after he was cleared by an English court.

Tom Carson (47) was charged with trying to bring 300 kilos of drugs into the country after his lorry was searched by customs officers at Dover at the end of last year.

Mr Carson, whose family are well respected members of the Tyrone farming community, said his life had been turned upside down by his 10-month ordeal, which saw him spend weeks in a prison cell on remand, all the while protesting his innocence.

A key character witness at his trial was veteran former Ulster Unionist MP Lord Ken Maginnis.

He appeared in court last week to tell of his 60-year friendship with the Carson family and described them as “very respectable businessmen”.

On Monday, the Dungannon man was cleared of the charges levelled against him at a court in Canterbury, Kent.

The court heard that Mr Carson had travelled to Antwerp in Belgium last November to deliver a lorry gearbox before picking up a consignment of chocolate from Utrecht in Holland to bring back to the UK. His lorry was stopped after it got off a ferry and a single pallet containing cannabis was found among 59 pallets on board.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph following his acquittal, Mr Carson described the shock he felt at being placed under arrest.

He had told police he believed a “rogue employee” at the Dutch plant may have been responsible for the drugs being loaded.

“I had loaded up in a warehouse, a big complex like a small town. I loaded a load of chocolates for Milton Keynes in England,” he said. “I didn’t notice anything about the load. The pallets were all shrink-wrapped, so it would have been impossible for me to find them. I would have had to open every individual pallet.”

All seemed to be going well on the journey until he arrived at the busy port of Dover.

“Customs pulled the lorry over. They do spot checks, so I wasn’t alarmed at all at that stage. It was a normal thing to do, to pull you in at random,” he said. “Somebody found something and they arrested me and took me away. I never actually saw the drugs.

“My feeling at that point was just one of disbelief.”

Mr Carson spent two weeks on remand before he was released on bail, an experience he described as “horrendous”.

“I was treated very well, I have no complaints about that,” he said.

Shocked friends and family back home in Dungannon rallied round to support Mr Carson, who was left in a state of limbo while the legal proceedings progressed.

The subsequent trial also proved a strain for Mr Carson, who was determined to prove his innocence. He burst into tears after the jury cleared him of drug smuggling on Monday.

He is now trying to have his lorry returned so he can carry on with his work.