Four jailed for cannabis farm worth £500k a year

FOUR men from Romford, Loughton, Buckhurst Hill and Woodford Green who set up a £500,000 a year cannabis farm at Ongar have been jailed for a total of almost 20 years.

They were growing the drug on an “industrial” scale said a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court as he put the gang behind bars.

The judge had been told that, among other things, sophisticated equipment to by-pass electricity to the value of £26,000 was found among 852 cannabis plants at the cannabis farm along with 57 “mother” plants to be used for future yields.

Police raided two units totalling 12,000 square feet at Paslow Hall Farm, King Street, Ongar, in March this year where a three-year lease had been obtained until 2016.

The four who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis were part of a “co-operative organisation coming to it for financial gain,” said Martin Mulgrew, prosecuting, while two others admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis.

John Brown, 35, of Appleby Drive, Romford, was given six years, Joseph Xenofondos, 40, of Loughton Way, Buckhurst Hill, five years, Anthony Georgiou, 49, of Felstead Road, Loughton, four-and-a-half years and Stephen Francis, 46, of Knighton Drive, Woodford Green, four years, after they all admitted conspiracy to produce the drug.

Jamie Walters, 57, of Ackroyd Drive, Bow, East London, received two years jail and Christopher Reilly, 49, of Dandelion Close, Rush Green, was given one year suspended for two years, with a six month curfew, attendance at a Thinking Skills programme and 80 hours unpaid work for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Sentencing the gang Recorder Richard Christie QC said: “This was a conspiracy which last five months. It was a huge production, the premises were leased for three years, rent alone would have cost £72,000 a year.

“This was cannabis production on a, commercial, industrial scale producing £40,000 a month – £500,000 a year. It was meant to net those involved large sums of money.

“It was a sophisticated on-going operation with a series of different rooms and you were all caught red-handed at the scene,” telling Brown: “You played a leading role, you set up the cover company and the bank account.”

When he opened the case the prosecutor told the court: “This involves industrial amounts of cannabis to be produced for middle level drugs deals.

“There were two units measuring 12,000 square feet together – a principle one and and a small unit. Drugs were found in four rooms taking up the whole of the floor space and there was sophisticated hydoponic system in place with £26,000 of loss to the supplier of electricity.

“Leased to Brown in October, 2013, at a cost of £5,859 a month being transferred from a bank account, it was not solely one-man involved – it would clearly require financial support from others and significant help in setting up the system and production.

“Police executed a search warrant on 14 March and there were 852 cannabis plants and 57 mother plants used to create the next crop. An estimate of the yield each was £500,000 and at least one had been harvested – it was a co-operative organisation.”

Mitigation on behalf of all six involved urging the judge to give credit for guilty pleas and O’Reilly was also said to be the sole carer for his parents.

http://www.theenquirer.co.uk/four-jailed-for-cannabis-farm-worth-500k-a-year/ 13/11/2014