Cannabis user turned to grow-your-own... and ended up with £39k crop
Robert Deans gives green-fingered gardening a whole new meaning after growing his own cannabis to avoid dodgy street dealers in Cardiff
Robert Deans gives green-fingered gardening a whole new meaning after growing his own cannabis to avoid dodgy street dealers in Cardiff
A gardening dad decided to grow his own cannabis because he didn’t like the dodgy street dealers.
But green-fingered Robert Deans was so successful he ended up with plants worth up to £39,000, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
A judge gave Deans a six-month prison sentence but suspended it for two years after hearing his partner was due to give birth in a matter of weeks and relied on him to look after the older children.
He had pleaded guilty to a drug production charge but on the basis that he never set out with the intention of being a dealer himself.
Prosecutor Sue Ferrier said: “His plea - that he was growing for his own use but would have given small amounts to friends - was accepted at his trial”.
Police armed with a search warrant went to 34-year-old Deans’ home in Beech Road, Fairwater, Cardiff in January and he confessed there was cannabis growing in the attic.
Mrs Ferrier said: “They found 43 plants with a potential yield of 4.4 kilos, valued at £39,285.
“He said he was a heavy user and bought the growing equipment on eBay.
“He harvested his first crop, took cuttings and more grew.”
Deans was said to have had some nasty experiences sourcing his drug from dealers and to have come to the conclusion that it was better to supply himself.
But he had “got carried away” and grew more than he could ever realistically consume even with a heavy habit.
He also said he anticipated some of the plants found would have died so the value probably wouldn’t be as much as police experts claimed.
Judge Thomas Crowther QC gave him 200 hours unpaid work as well as the suspended sentence, saying he was aware his partner, who helps run a school breakfast club, was expecting and there would soon be a new baby.
“But the unpaid work must take precedence”, he told him.
“If it doesn’t and you are brought back here, re-sentencing will mean custody.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cannabis-user-turned-grow-your-own-ended-8057669 05/11/2014
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