A CANNABIS grower said to have been cultivating plants worth £16,000, could be facing jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard Steven John O’Rourke claimed he had grown 25 plants. The prosecution alleged there was evidence of 46 plants.

O’ Rourke, of Healeywood Road, admitted producing cannabis on January 13 and abstracting electricity. He was bailed until July 31, for a pre-sentence report and Judge Beverley Lunt warned him: “I will consider everything, including prison.”

The defendant’s barrister Keith Harrison told the hearing: “This is not his field of industry. He has not been in trouble since 2006 and has a job.”