A verdict could be reached today in the in the trial of a Somerset couple charged with possessing $1.5 million worth of cocaine with intent to supply.

Defence counsel began its summing up of the case at the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon following four days of evidence.

Yesterday's proceedings began with co-defendant William Roberts, charged with his wife Barbara, taking the witness stand.

When questioned by defence counsellor Richard Hector, Roberts explained that he had lied to Police when he was first arrested in September 1996 in a bid to protect his family.

"After seeing the state of my wife and feeling frustrated I said I was prepared to give a statement,'' he said.

"I wanted to exonerate my wife from all blame so she would be allowed to go home.

"I thought I would be more able to take a jail sentence than her. Part of the statement was true, part of it was untrue.'' Roberts, 72, had told Police that he thought the package contained drugs and that he knew it was worth a lot of money.

He also told them he had divided one of the blocks into one ounce packages, that his wife had wanted to contact the police straight away but he ordered her not to, and that he intended to sell the drugs after "making a contact''.

But on the witness stand yesterday he refuted those facts. Instead he said he first thought the package was garbage and only found out it had been split up after speaking to his son Kirk on the telephone several days later while Police searched his boat yard.

He added that it was his idea to contact the Police straight away.

"My wife wasn't keen on that suggestion,'' he said.

"My son Kirk had been in trouble with the Police and if we called them they would think he was involved.'' Roberts tried to protect wife from going to prison Instead Roberts claimed that his wife agreed to get rid of the drugs the following day while he was at work, but they were still there when he got home.

The defence counsel also called Roberts' lawyer, Michael Scott, as a witness.

Mr. Scott claimed he had been unable to see his client until the day after his arrest because Police had sent him to the wrong station.

But when prosecution counsellor Brian Calhoun questioned Roberts he claimed he was still hiding the truth.

"You have been telling a lot of lies to the Police about your involvement and I would suggest you are just lying further today,'' he said.

"You found the drugs on Sunday morning and say they were going to be disposed of on the Monday.

"But it wasn't disposed of on Monday or Tuesday or even on Wednesday. Is it just a remarkable coincidence that you managed to get rid of the packets that had been ruined by water but kept the ones that were still good?'' Mr. Calhoun also questioned why Roberts had taken the 30 pound package back to his house in a wheelbarrow to discover what it contained.

"Do you agree that it would have been easier just to go back and get a knife rather than load it up in a wheelbarrow and cart it back to your residence,'' he said.

Summing up, Mr. Hector said: "This is a sad case because, no matter how you look at it, there are two elderly people of unblemished character facing serious offences and the main character in this whole affair is missing.

"From time to time we may refer to that missing character because in my submission there was a person involved in this whole thing not before you and he has left his parents to face the music.

"When he made that statement to the Police he was getting on his white charger because in his view he was the only one who would survive a prison sentence.'' The trial continues today.