Edenfield man grew cannabis at his father's homes (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Edenfield man grew cannabis at his father's homes

3:59pm Monday 10th September 2012 in News

A DAD-of-two who was growing 20 cannabis plants at his father's house claimed he was saving cash to help out with paying the bills and home improvements, a court heard.

Burnley Crown Court was told how Anthony Drake, 43, moved the crop from a locked bedroom into the garden to try to hide it when a police visit was imminent.

Drake, who uses the drug, claimed the plants were all for his own personal use.

He said he was saving money by growing his own drugs instead of going to dealers and could help his hard-up dad out with energy bills and doing up his home.

Drake, who works for a utilities company, was running a sophisticated operation and had polythene on the floor of the room, lights, fans, a timer switch on the lights and a self-watering system.

He was to tell police he bought the equipment from eBay and local stores, and had padlocked the upstairs growing room to ‘stop his sister getting nosy’.

The defendant, of Woodlands Road, Edenfield, admitted producing cannabis and had been committed for sentence by magistrates.

He was given 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 180 hours of unpaid work and 24 months supervision.

Bob Elias, prosecuting, said the defendant had been growing more cannabis than he could consume himself but there was nothing to indicate supply to anybody.

Laura Heywood, defending, said he used cannabis as a youngster to ease knee pain and his use escalated. He didn’t want to obtain the drug from dealers and set up the system to save money.

Miss Heywood said: “His father was struggling financially and was not able to afford his gas and electricity bills.

“Due to the amount of money that was saved by the defendant, he was using the money to pay his father's bills and to improve his father's property.”