Former dinner lady jailed for running £150k skunk cannabis factory at her Leicester home  

Karen McCann

A former school dinner lady who turned her home into a £150,000-a-year cannabis factory has been jailed for three years and four months.

When the police raided 59-year-old Karen McCann's house in Chettle Road, New Parks, Leicester, they found 66 illegal plants growing in a bedroom and the loft.

The plants could yield 3.3 kgs per crop with a street value in excess £37,680 - with four harvests annually.

Officers discovered £18,448 in cash in her bedroom and her bank accounts revealed deposits of about £129,000 since 2008.

Jonathan Cox, prosecuting, told the city's crown court she had paid off the mortgage on the home she acquired in 2004 by the time she was arrested in March this year.

He said: "There was evidence of a lavish lifestyle and documents at the premises related to a £6,000 holiday in Spain."

McCann admitted producing cannabis, abstracting electricity, possessing £18,448 of criminal property and money laundering.

Mr Cox said when the police raided her home on March 13 this year, they discovered a sophisticated hydroponics system in place, with fans and lights.

"She accepts it was going on since early 2012.

"The annual yield would have been 13 kgs fetching just over £150,000.

"She wasn't paying for any electricity, and saved thousands, because the meter was by-passed.

It was done in a "particularly dangerous manner," creating a fire risk.

"Cannabis separated into individual deals was also found in the airing cupboard" said Mr Cox.

Between March 2008 and April this year McCann had not received any form of benefits and only declared £443 legitimate income to the taxman during that that six year period.

The court heard she claimed the person behind the drugs operation was her absent former partner, who lived elsewhere and had "emotionally manipulated" her.

McCann was convicted in 2007 for permitting her premises to be used for the production of cannabis involving 19 plants - involving the same former partner - and she was given a conditional discharge on that occasion.

Judge Simon Hammond said: "I believe this defendant went into this with her eyes open.

"Cannabis farms and factories are very prevalent and provide huge profits.

"In one year alone 47 cannabis factories were discovered in Leicester and these systems produce cannabis with very high THC, known as skunk.

"Skunk can cause serious mental health problems and is much stronger than cannabis that used to be imported from Morocco and other countries."

Sian Cutter, mitigating, said McCann's previous partner had used her home and bank accounts to run the operation - although when she was arrested she refused to say who else was involved.

McCann was formerly a dinner lady at Merrydale Junior, Claydon Road, near Uppingham Road, Leicester, for 18 years.

After her 2007 conviction she returned to previously law-abiding life and went back to work at the same school as a cleaner.

Miss Cutter said the former partner later reconciled with her and persuaded her to give up work, promising to look after her financially.

He put money into her bank account from legitimate profits from a café he owned, said Miss Cutter.

But later he allegedly persuaded her to let him install another growing operation in her home, the court was told.

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/dinner-lady-jailed-running-150k-skunk-cannabis/story-22932976-detail/story.html 16/09/2014