THE judge in the eight-week €440 million cocaine trial stood in front of the jury with a length of rope in his hands to explain the circumstantial evidence on which the prosecution is based.

THE jury in the biggest drugs trial in the history of the State will commence their seventh week at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Monday knowing the end of the case is looming.

The man who emerged from the sea in West Cork on the morning that €440m worth of cocaine was found floating in choppy waters was given assistance at a local farmhouse and told the farmer there was no need to alert the rescue services - a judge and jury was told today.