TEA LEAF IS CAGED

Scammer's basic brew sold in top outlets

- BY TIM BUGLER

A £550,000 fraudster who bought tea from around the world and sold it on as a Scottish delicacy has been jailed for three years.

Thomas Robinson, 55, ordered tea plants from a nursery in Sussex called "Plants4Presents" and planted them in the garden of a rented former sheep farm near Loch Tay.

From there, he showed them to buyers from posh outlets including grocer Fortnum & Mason.

Robinson claimed to have found a way to make his tea flourish in Scotland using a "special biodegradable polymer", which prosecutors said resembled black bin liners.