Ex-judo star's house turned into a cannabis factory  

A FORMER international judo competitor who suffered a "spectacular fall from grace" by allowing a house he owned to be used as a cannabis factory has been jailed for 14 months.

Alan Michael Lee, 31, who was also a once successful businessman, allowed his house in Heybridge Basin to be used to grow 2.79 kilos of skunk - 62 plants.

Lee, of Epping Way, Witham, pleaded guilty on Thursday, August 8, to allowing the premises to be used for the production of cannabis, abstracting electricity and possession of 0.6 grams of amphetamine.

He was given eight months for the drug offences and six months consecutive for breaching a suspended sentence which he had received for dangerous driving.

Andrew Clowser, mitigating, said Lee suffered a "spectacular fall from grace" after running a successful business.

He said: "He lost his driving licence in 2011 for dangerous driving and could no longer support the business.

"Eleven months later his business was wound up - 25 people lost their jobs - he had a £250,000 mortgage on this property and his financial situation was fully exploited.

"The tenants were on their way to the property when police raided it - they got wind of that and fled and have not been seen since. He accepts he allowed the premises to be used."

Lee stressed that he was not a drug user and had been previously running a business teaching plumbing and plastering, but had recently struggled to pay household bills.

He claimed the amphetamine had been left by the cannabis growers, who had to wait just two to three weeks for the cannabis to yield.

Judge David Turner QC told him: "You came into contact with criminals - it was little short of insanity - and decided to let out two bedrooms to become a small-scale factory.

"It was a commercial operation on a modest scale and changes were made to the property to provide the usual paraphernalia.

"It was a cynical attempt to make a significant financial gain in dire straits. You made a bad decision and it was made worse because of the dangerous driving."

Lee claimed he didn't receive any money from the cultivation, he just received a monthly payment of £250 for looking after the plants.

Initially two men went to the property to water the plants but Lee said he got "roped in" to doing it by them saying the plants could die, and they added: "If there's no yield, there's no money."

Michael Edmonds, prosecuting, said on February 5 this year police executed a search warrant at Fairwinds, Harfred Avenue, Heybridge Basin, and found a "medium-sized" cannabis factory in two of the bedrooms, and the electricity was hooked up illegally.

He said: "The operation had produced one yield of two to two-and-a-half kilos and was likely to yield again in the near future."

http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk 16/08/2013