Businessman spared jail over cannabis crop at family farm
The potential annual yield from the plants could have been up to £170,000
The potential annual yield from the plants could have been up to £170,000
A BUSINESSMAN who started a cannabis factory at his family’s farm has been spared an immediate jail sentence.
At Oxford Crown Court yesterday Michael Austin, of The Field, Dry Sandford, near Abingdon, admitted one count of producing the Class B drug and one count of stealing electricity.
Naomi Perry, prosecuting, said that on January 30 this year officers discovered 35 cannabis plants growing at White Horse Farm, Dry Sandford, near Abingdon.
She said the 26-year-old, who started a liquid concrete business and employs four people, took full responsibility for the crop and said he used to sell the drug to his friends.
Miss Perry added that Austin, who is a trained electrician, had built a hydroponics system to keep his plants alive and bypassed his electricity meter.
She told Recorder Nicholas Goodwin that the potential annual yield from the plants could be worth anything up to £170,000 if sold on the street.
Miss Perry added Austin has no previous convictions.
After hearing mitigation that Austin was an “entrepreneur” on whom his employees relied for their livelihoods, Recorder Goodwin told him he would not send him to prison.
He told him: “I’m satisfied that you were not dealing cannabis on the street.”
Recorder Goodwin gave Austin a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
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