A man caught growing £35,000 worth of cannabis in his home has avoided jail time after telling the court he was planning to smoke it all himself. Police discovered a ‘cottage industry’ set up in Mark Colwell’s Portchester home, near Portsmouth, on April 25. The 35-year-old had 38 plants growing under hydroponics and lights and had also rewired the electricity to save himself from expensive bills.
In pictures obtained of the semi-detached home, numerous cannabis plants can be seen scattered across the floor of several rooms. A police drugs expert said that the 38 plants would fetch £18,000 wholesale, but had a street value of £35,000.
Appearing at Portsmouth Crown Court, Colwell told Judge Roger Hetherington that he was simply trying to ‘cut costs’ after his increased marijuana habit landed him in debt. He told officers that he smoked up to an ounce of the Class B drug a week.
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Howard Barrington-Clark, representing Colwell, said that the collapse of the defendant’s marriage had triggered a rise in his regular cannabis use. ‘He ran up massive bills on the credit card,’ Mr Barrington-Clark said.
‘He was lonely and depressed. His habit increased deeply.’ But Judge Hetherington made it clear that he didn’t quite buy Colwell’s insistence that the cannabis was all intended for personal use. ‘I’m extremely sceptical whether all of this was for your own use,’ he said.
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‘I think the probability was you were intending to sell some of it for financial gain to assist with your debts but I don’t make a specific finding about that.’ The court also heard how Colwell had stolen £896 worth of electricity from his provider to help grow the cannabis farm in his home. Colwell admitted producing cannabis and abstracting electricity and was sentenced to two years in jail suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity days and pay £896 compensation to the electricity company. Colwell previously did four years in jail when he was convicted of possession with intent to supply class A drugs in 1999. In 2014 he was given a community order by magistrates for producing cannabis. Judge Hetherington added that Colwell’s previous convictions made his serious position ‘worse’.
Credit: metro.co.uk
