Three members of a drugs gang and a corrupt former prison guard are appealing against the length of their jail terms.

Heavy sentences were handed out in November to members of a Liverpool- and Isle of Man-based gang behind a plot to import £500,000 of cannabis into the island.

Prison officer Robert Sewell, aged 30, was corrupted into smuggling a mobile phone into the jail for gang ring leader Francis Dunne and Jamie Smith who were both on remand.

Now he, Dunne and Smith - together with fellow gang member Darren Dooley - have lodged appeals against their sentences.

Sewell, who was arrested just as the Jurby jail featured in a weekly prime-time television documentary Best Little Prison in Britain? was jailed for 12 months for bringing a prohibited article into the prison.

Deemster Dermot Main-Thompson accepted he was not involved in the running of the organised crime enterprise but he had betrayed the trust of his colleagues.

Dunne and Smith had plotted to import 65kg of cannabis resin and 5kg of cannabis bush worth £442,423.

Ring leader Dunne, aged 36, of Vauxhall, Liverpool, had already been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cannabis and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

He was jailed for a further nine-and-a-half months for the offence involving the mobile phone.

Smith, of Maple Avenue, Onchan, also played leading to role in the organised crime network.

He was jailed for five years and seven months for the same drugs offences as Dunne plus a further 19 months to run consecutively for money laundering, which involved the transfer of £19,870.

Smith received a further nine and a half months, again to run consecutively, for the mobile phone offence.

In November, two other gang members were convicted of importing 7.2kg of cannabis worth £144,496 while others were jailed for handling the cash proceeds..

Darren Dooley, of Oak Avenue, Pulrose, is appealing his 32 month jail term for conspiracy to import cannabis and being concerned in the supply of the drug.

A directions hearing for Dunne and Smith’s appeal had been due to take place on January 13.

An appeal hearing for Dooley had been listed for January 27 followed by Sewell’s hearing on February 1.