Jailed: Tipton man's £50,000 drug farm uncovered during police call

Police got more than they bargained for when they responded to the report.

Officers found over two kilos of harvested, dried cannabis worth up to £24,000 in street sales in the ground floor of the property while upstairs 36 plants – capable of producing a £26,000 crop – were being grown under a sophisticated hydroponic cultivation system on September 25 last year, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting, explained: "They smelt cannabis as soon as they entered the address and the occupant, Eamon Payne, admitted that he had a 'grow on'.

"The operation was split into two levels. Upstairs there were fans, filters, ducting and high intensity lights in the upstairs room where the drug was being grown."

Payne, from Witherton Grove, Tipton, who had a previous conviction for allowing his premises to be used for cannabis production, had also by-passed the electricity and used £1,000 worth of free power.

Police seized £860 cash found at the address which he accepted was from the proceeds of crime.

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, conceded: "The set up could have produced a significant quantity of cannabis but the whole grow was not for him while the previous grow had been for somebody else.

"He had been promised the use of the equipment to produce some for himself.

"He may well deserve to go to prison but since his arrest has made every possible effort to rectify the situation. He has repaid the loss to the electricity company after borrowing money from his brother."

Mr Woolhouse said that Payne had been blighted by a drug problem for many years and continued: "He managed to pay for that by working hard but started to have mental health issues a couple of years ago. He now needs medication for depression.

"His carpentry business collapsed, it became more of a struggle to finance his addiction and his depression spiralled downwards."

Payne pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and abstracting electricity and was jailed for 18 months by Judge Kristina Montgomery QC who told him: "You were responsible for overseeing and maintaining a relatively sophisticated system. It was being produced on a scale consistent with large scale distribution."