refrigerator have spent their first night behind bars after being found guilty of possession with intent to supply.

William Roberts, 72, and his wife Barbara, 59, both of West Side Road, Sandys, had already pleaded guilty to possessing the drug but denied they planned to supply it.

But at the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon a jury of ten women and two men took little more than an hour to reach a guilty verdict by a majority of ten to two.

The Roberts sat emotionless in the dock as the guilty verdict was read out.

But Puisne Judge Norma Wade Miller delayed passing sentence because Barbara Roberts' lawyer was not in court. The pair were remanded in custody until next Monday when sentence will be passed.

Three of the couple's four grown-up children, watching from the public gallery, also showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.

After the verdict the couple, accompanied by prison officers, were led together from the court room to a waiting security van and then transported to the Westgate Correctional Facility and the Co-ed Facility, respectively.

Outside the Supreme Court defence counsel Mr. Richard Hector, who had represented William Roberts, said: "This was a tough case but the jury have given their verdict and I have no comment to make.'' Asked how his client had reacted to the verdict Mr. Hector said: "They are both devastated but these things happen. These are old people at the end of their lives and they are bound to be emotional.'' Mr. Hector declined to say if there would be an appeal against any future sentence.

"We have no instruction on that at the moment,'' he said.

"But I expect their ages will play a part in their sentences.'' But Sgt. Stephen Rollin, who led the Police investigation into the case, said: "I am very satisfied with the verdict. I think it was a fairly straightforward case and I am not particularly surprised by the verdict.'' During the six-day trial the jury heard how the couple had found a package containing 30 pounds of cocaine floating in the sea near their home last September.

They claimed they were too frightened to contact the Police in case their son Kirk, who had been investigated by narcotics officers in the past, might be implicated.

Instead they claimed that they planned to get rid of the parcel as soon as they possibly could.

But when Police raided their home four days later the drugs were discovered in the refrigerator.

And part of the stash had been split up into one-ounce packages ready, the prosecution claimed, to be sold on the street.

Throughout the trial defence counsel argued that the Roberts had acted to protect their youngest son and had ended up "holding the baby''.

But in her summing up Puisne Judge Norma Wade Miller told the jury there was no evidence to support this argument and they should "wipe it from their minds''.

Instead the jury were swayed by prosecution counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun's argument that the pair had done everything to preserve the drug rather than destroy it.

In his summing up Mr. Calhoun said: "They were part of the distribution process. They were providing a hiding place -- a safe house for the drugs.

"And if the ultimate distributors on the street don't have a safe house, then those drugs never get through do they? They are never going to get onto the street and into the bodies of young Bermudians.''