Cannabis farm man ordered to hand over £2k
A man who helped run a cannabis farm from an isolated Lincolnshire hamlet has been ordered to hand over assets of £2,830.
A man who helped run a cannabis farm from an isolated Lincolnshire hamlet has been ordered to hand over assets of £2,830.
Raymond James was ruled to have benefitted from his crime by £3,630 when he appeared at a hearing before Lincoln Crown Court on Monday.
Judge Michael Heath ruled his available assets of £2,830 should be confiscated. The money was seized by police when they raided the property James was staying at in Bloxholm, near Ruskington, at the time of his arrest.
James was jailed for 18 months at an earlier hearing after the Crown Court was told police discovered the cannabis farm after being tipped off by an anonymous note left on the windscreen of a patrol car.
Officers acting on the information subsequently visited the property at Bloxholm and immediately smelled cannabis.
Julia King, prosecuting, said that James, who was living at the property at the time, claimed the smell was from a cannabis spliff he had just thrown on the fire.
But the strong aroma led officers to query his response and James then took them into the cellar where they found cannabis plants being grown.
Miss King said 75 cannabis plants were found in electrically heated trays with special lighting installed.
A search of the property and outbuildings led to the discovery of more sophisticated cannabis growing equipment as well as nearly £3,000 cash.
James, 41, formerly of Bloxholm, but now living at Margam, West Glamorgan, South Wales, admitted producing cannabis on January 10.
Jonathon Dee, defending, said that at the time James was in debt to a loan shark and agreed to grow the cannabis to clear his loan.
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk 31/10/2013
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