EIGHT more people - including three from Chard -  have been charged as part of a nine-month investigation into the supply of drugs in Somerset.

It brings the number of people charged as a result of the investigation to 39.

Six men and one woman are due to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court today along with a 17-year-old boy.

They have been charged with a total of 25 counts of supplying Class A drugs, two counts of offering to supply Class A drugs and one count of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

Excluding the boy, those charged are:

• James Studley, 31 of Jubilee Close, Crewkerne

• Claudia Henriques, 34, of Holyrood Street, Chard

• Gabriel Lopes, 36, of Holyrood Street, Chard

• Alan Eggington, 43, of East Street, Chard

• Daniel Rushworth, 25, of Ivel Court, Yeovil

• Andrew Lever, 25, of Oborne Road, Sherbourne

• Patrick Donegan, 30, of Gainsborough Way, Yeovil