07/01/2008 00:00:00
UK: Cannabis plant caretaker jailed
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A drug dealer has been jailed for four years for turning his rented home
in Kinross into a cannabis factory.
George Hume, 41, from Edinburgh, had more than 300 cannabis plants at
the property in Kinnesswood.
At Perth Sheriff Court he admitted growing and supplying the drugs
between 29 November 2006 and 15 March 2007.
The court heard that he had been acting as a "caretaker" at the property
to clear a £4,000 drug debt he had run up because of his cannabis addiction.
Police raided the flat after a tip-off.
As well as 316 plants growing in pots, they discovered a further 346
empty pots ready to be used in mass producing the drug.
Fiscal depute Stuart Richardson said: "To maintain a high temperature in
the room the window was covered with thick plastic sheeting and there
were high voltage lighting units suspended from the ceiling."
The heat in the specially-adapted bedroom was so high - close to 90
degrees - that it would have shown up as a thermal imaging hotspot.
Mr Richardson told Perth Sheriff Court that the plants had not been well
looked after and that experts believed they had been over-watered.
He told the court that the plants could have produced cannabis with a
street value of £7,000 - but the figure would have been much higher if
they had been healthy.
Solicitor Robbie Burnett, defending, said his client - a part-time card
shop manager - was addicted to super strong skunk cannabis and had a £40
a day habit.
He said he been receiving £80 a week income support at the time and had
run up a debt of about £4,000 to pay for his drug habit.
Mr Burnett said: "His involvement was that he was the caretaker in the
house and had been directed in certain aspects of watering the plants.
"He was going to be there for 14 weeks and as a result his debt was
going to be cleared.
"He has now had a wake-up call and realises the use of cannabis is only
ever going to get him into trouble."
Sheriff Michael Fletcher noted that Hume had previously been jailed for
five years at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2001 for drug offences.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7175307.stm
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13111
Author:
BBC News via UKCIA
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