As a gamekeeper on a sporting estate run by the 15th Earl of Home, William Stirrat rubbed shoulders with the aristocracy and members of the royal family. He was trusted enough to teach Prince William and Prince Harry how to shoot.

But Mr Stirrat’s life was wrecked when police wrongly concluded he was a crime baron, secretly running a drugs factory located in a Lanarkshire forest.

Mr Stirrat was convicted and jailed as a result of a deeply flawed investigation by drugs officers.

Finally 14 years on from his imprisonment, Mr Stirrat has been told he will receive sizeable damages for a terrible miscarriage of justice.

“The whole thing has been horrendous,” Mr Stirrat told The Telegraph. “I have been classed as a drug dealer, nobody would look at me.

“The number of discrepancies throughout the trial was unbelievable.”