Cannabis grower is spared prison  

A Shepton Mallet man who was caught growing more than 100 cannabis plants in his loft - which police originally said were potentially worth £30,000 - has been sentenced to a community order by the courts.

He was sentenced to 80 hours' community service and 42 days of "non specified programmes" following the discovery of more than 100 plants in his house in the town centre.

When police raided Gerald Anthony Goulden's home they found dozens of plants at various stages of growth being cultivated at his home along with associated paraphernalia and he was arrested.

After pleading guilty to producing a quantity of the class B drug when he appeared at a previous court hearing before Somerset Magistrates the case was adjourned for a pre sentence report to be prepared by the Probation Service.

When the 36-year-old, of St Paul's Mews appeared back before the court at Yeovil he was also given a 12 month order with requirements for supervision.

Prosecutor Emma Chetland said that a drugs search warrant was executed at Goulden's home that he shared with his partner and son on April 3 and he told the officers that if they found anything then it belonged to him.

"In the attic space they found numerous cannabis plants growing along with the associated equipment and it was all seized," she said.

"When the plants were analysed they were found to be a total of 103 including 44 saplings, 51 smaller plants and eight large plants.

"Varying amounts of dried vegetable matter was also seized which had been harvested from the plants."

When he was arrested by the police Goulden said that he had started growing it for himself as he could not afford to buy it from others.

Sentencing guidelines issued in 2012 indicate that growing more than 28 plants is considered a category 2 offence, which could carry a penalty of between 26 months to six years imprisonment.

However this is conditional on several factors including the sophistication of the set up, the purity of the drugs, whether it was an isolated incident or a lack of previous convictions among other issues, which could have reduced the category to a level 3 or level 4 offence.

Police have appealed to the public to keep informing them if they suspect that cannabis growing is taking place in Shepton Mallet.

Although at the time of the raid police had claimed that their operation had potentially removed £30,000 worth of cannabis from the area, a police spokesman said they could not comment on the courts decision.

Force Drugs Strategy Manager Paul Bunt said: "Operation Viscount is our dedicated resource to tackling cannabis production across Avon and Somerset.

"We know that cannabis can be linked to serious and organised criminality which can have a devastating effect on our local communities.

"I would like to thank the members of the public who continue to support our work by providing us with vital intelligence and working with us to keep our streets safe."

What do you think? Are the courts too lenient on cannabis growers - or too harsh?

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk 23/05/2013