Convicted killer Vernon Simons was yesterday found guilty of the drugs plot that led to him murdering Matthew Clarke.

Simons, 24, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder, having been convicted last month along with Shannon Tucker, 33, and Kyle Sousa, 18.

The murder trial heard how construction company boss Tucker and his employee Simons blamed Mr. Clarke for framing them over $450,000-plus worth of cannabis and ecstasy discovered by the authorities in a shipment of parts for Tucker's business.

The trio bludgeoned the father-of-two over the head with a metal pole and stabbed him 26 times before leaving him dead in bed in April 2008. Prosecutors told the jury the murder stemmed from the fact that the drug importation plot was busted three months earlier. Tucker and Simons were said to have blamed 31-year-old Mr. Clarke for them being caught out, and roped in Sousa to help kill him on a promise of $1,000.

Tucker admitted his role in the drug conspiracy during defence evidence in the murder trial. He formally pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to import cannabis and ecstasy on Monday the day he was supposed to go on trial with Simons. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Simons, of North Street, Pembroke, continued to protest his innocence and pleaded not guilty to charges that he participated in a conspiracy "together with Shannon Tucker and persons unknown". He told the jury this week that he was already serving a life sentence although he did not say what for. The fact of his murder conviction was never revealed to the jury by anyone in the drugs case, in order not to unfairly prejudice them against him.

The jurors did, however, hear that the case was linked to "another matter" and heard how Simons tried to pin the blame for the drugs conspiracy on Mr. Clarke. Judge Charles-Etta Simmons told them at the start of the trial that Mr. Clarke would be mentioned, but was now deceased.

As in the murder trial, defence lawyer Larry Scott grilled Police witnesses over the notion that Mr. Clarke could have been to blame for the 584 ecstasy tablets and more than eight kilograms of cannabis stashed inside parts for a hydraulic lifting machine. And as in that trial, investigators replied that Mr. Clarke was never a suspect.

Outlining the drugs case for the jury, prosecutor Carrington Mahoney told them Simons and Tucker left Bermuda on December 12, 2007, travelling together to New Jersey. They ended up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they went to a forklift company on December 13 and purchased the machine parts in question. They took them to another Pennsylvania company four days later where Tucker got a staff member to send them to Bermuda via Federal Express.

Mr. Mahoney said the pair travelled back to the Island on December 18 and the machine parts arrived as air cargo on January 8 2008. They were intercepted by the authorities after a sniffer dog alerted to the presence of drugs. X-rays revealed packages of ecstasy tablets and cannabis stashed inside.

The Police cut open the metal parts, removed the narcotics and replaced them with a piece of lumber to provide the same weight. They then resealed the parts and painted over the cuts, before arranging what Mr. Mahoney described as a "controlled delivery".

Surveillance officers watched as Simons and Tucker arrived at the Federal Express office the following day and picked up the machine parts. Both were subsequently arrested and the parts were seized.

Mr. Mahoney told the seven women and four men of the jury who lost one member for unspecified reasons on Thursday that: "We are saying the accused was party to Tucker's effort in getting these items, these illicit drugs, into the parts and bringing them to Bermuda."

During his closing speech, Mr. Mahoney pointed out that records from Simons' cell phone showed the pair were in New Jersey together and had been in communications relating to the conspiracy. Text messages found on the phone, which was seized during the investigation, referred to thousands of dollars and some weed.

"He is a major player in this enterprise, and he is just as guilty as Shannon and all the others," said the prosecutor.

However, Simons took the stand in his own defence protesting that he had no knowledge of any drugs plot and denying he had sent and received the texts. If was guilty, he told the jury he would have admitted it since he is in jail for life anyway.

In his closing speech to the jury, defence lawyer Larry Scott described the Police investigation into the drugs case which had concluded by the time of the murder as "less than thorough".

He said his client had only been released from jail for an earlier crime in September 2007 and did not have the funds to participate in such a conspiracy. Mr. Scott also complained that it would have been fairer if the prosecution had told the jury about "the other case" by which he meant the murder rather than have it touched upon obliquely by various witnesses in the drugs case.

"My view is everything should have been laid open before you to give you the picture...we have these little judicial devices to keep certain things away...but this case is about the other matter and we've all tiptoed around it trying to keep it away from you," he told them.

The jury reached guilty verdicts by a majority of 9 to 2, after just under three hours of deliberation yesterday.

The date for sentencing of Simons and Tucker is June 1.