Ex-UKIP candidate guilty of cannabis farm charge

A FORMER UKIP election candidate ran a cannabis factory and created a fictional mastermind as cover for the operation.

The drugs farm at an industrial yard in Grange Road, Pirbright, contained 360 plants being cultivated for high-strength skunk.

Paul Clarke, 30, of Portland Drive in Merstham, was found guilty at Guildford Crown Court on Wednesday of being concerned in the production of cannabis, alongside Anthony Mallard, 46, of Hornhurst Road in Horley.

A third defendant, Dennis Lennon, 49, of Talbot Mount in Leeds, was cleared of the same charge by a jury.

Clarke insisted the factory was run by Paul Webber, a man he claimed had disappeared but who prosecutors said never existed.

Mystery man a 'figment of imagination'
Cannabis factory found at farm unit

The operation was discovered when police visited the site on November 30 in 2011, following up reports that a forklift truck had been stolen from a neighbouring yard.

They found two secure units connected by a secret "rabbit run" and powered by a large generator, which witnesses said had been heard running through the night.

Caroline Carberry, prosecuting, told the court: "This was a professional set-up. It was not something that had just been thought about overnight.

"It was a long time in planning and it may well have dated back to when Paul Clarke and Anthony Mallard took on the yard in 2010. Each of these defendants was involved in the production of cannabis."

The court heard Mallard was on site when the factory was found, and that he later claimed Paul Webber and another man called Keith had also been there but ran off.

When they searched a cabin being used as an office, police found personal items belonging to Clarke, jurors were told.

An officer spoke to him on Mallard's phone, but he said he was driving and hung up, and did not attend a police interview until two weeks later.

A man claiming to be Paul Webber was also spoken to on the phone, but the voice was later identified as Clarke's, the court heard.

Money given

Clarke said he had sold his tyre business, along with the cabin, to Paul Webber. He claimed to have only done odd jobs for him, including changing the battery on the generator and passing cash to the site's owner, Gidget Hill.

The court heard Clarke told police in his interview: "I've been caught with no tax on my car. I've got a fine outstanding and I haven't been able to afford it yet."

But Ms Carberry said: "Paul Clarke could have told the police at the time that he knew Mallard and Lennon, that he gave Gidget Hill money on occasions, that his cabin containing his items was being used as an office.

"He could have told them he put a new battery in the generator, that he had a meeting with Paul Webber in a pub in Redhill."

Jurors were told Clarke was identified as the person giving directions on the site by Gidget Hill, and also as being regularly around by caretakers Kathleen and Adrian Casey-Galleu.

Ms Carberry said: "Gidget Hill is somebody who would obviously recognise you because you have been there quite a few times.

"In fact she had a really good look at you when you turned up at her door to give her some money in the summer of 2011."

Mallard and Clarke will return to court for sentencing on March 6.

Clarke stood for the UK Independence Party at the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council elections in 2010.

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk 06/02/2013