'Magical' cannabis plants in Derbyshire house loft meant cash for holidays, girl told gran
Police found 16 cannabis plants which would have produced a minimum yield worth £2,808.
Police found 16 cannabis plants which would have produced a minimum yield worth £2,808.
"THERE'S magic plants in the loft for us to go on holiday," a little girl told her grandma after seeing her father's cannabis plants.
The young girl's remark was related to Derby Crown Court at the sentencing of her parents, Daniel March and Rachael Houghton, after cannabis plants were found in their loft.
March, 28, admitted producing and supplying cannabis and Houghton pleaded guilty to allowing it to be grown in her house.
The lease for their home in Ladywood Road, Ilkeston, was in her name.
Esther Harrison, prosecuting, said: "Rachael Houghton knew the plants were being grown in the loft but she had nothing to do with it."
Miss Harrison said that the 23-year-old, who works in paediatrics in Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, sent a text to her partner telling him not to show the plants to their daughter again.
It continued: "She told mum 'there's magic plants in the loft for us to go on holiday'."
Miss Harrison said the text indicated that some profit was being made from the venture.
Giving March a suspended sentence and Houghton a community order, Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: "The sad thing about this case is you were doing this in the loft of your home where your two children are living. In the fullness of time, as the plants matured, the plants would have given off odours and your children would have inhaled those odours."
When police searched the couple's home on May 28, March and their two children were at the house. The officers found 16 cannabis plants in the loft, which would have produced a minimum yield of 448g, worth £2,808, the court heard.
Miss Harrison said: "There was also a bag of cannabis leaves in the kitchen area. The prosecution say this was a grow for onwards supply to others."
Stuart Newsam, for March, said his client spoke about "peer pressure" and "financial problems".
Justin Ablott, for Houghton, said she should have put a stop to it and that had been a matter of "huge regret" for her.
March was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.
Houghton was handed a 12-month community order, with 80 hours of unpaid work.
They must each pay £600 of prosecution costs.
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