Cannabis factory gardener given suspended jail term
A 'gardener' who helped cultivate a huge cannabis factory which could have produced more than £100,000 worth of the drug has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Kevin Upton was responsible for tending the 158 cannabis plants found by police at an industrial estate in Enterprise Drive, Lye.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard it was a "very large commercial enterprise" involving several tents, illegally extracted electricity supply and ventilation ducts.
Three men were arrested and charged in relation to the factory but Upton, aged 31, is the only one of the trio not to have had the charges dropped.
On Tuesday he was given a 15 month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
He will have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work within the next year and pay a total of £1,800 towards the prosecution costs.
Upton, of Cedar Road, Cannock, had admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis on the basis he was the gardener.
Mr Timothy Harrington, prosecuting, said police officers attended the industrial estate on October 1, 2015, and noticed a strong smell of cannabis.
"They went to the front door and tried to open it," he explained. "This defendant and two other men tried to keep the door closed but the police got in.
"They found inside a significant cannabis factory. This involved the extraction of electricity, tents which had been set up, fans, heaters and ducts to ventilate the air.
"There were a total of 158 plants and most were near full maturity.
"The potential yield was estimated as between four and 13kg and would have been worth tens of thousands of pounds.
"The lowest estimate if it had been sold in ounces would be £28,000, but if it had been sold in large deals it could have been over £100,000."
Upton's DNA was found in a glove and a sleeping bag was found indicating someone was staying overnight to tend the plants, Mr Harrington said.
In interview, Upton claimed he had nothing to do with the factory but pleaded guilty on the day of his trial in March this year.
The court heard he had previously been cautioned by police in 2009 concerning the production of cannabis and in the same year for the possession of cannabis resin.
Recorder Martin Butterworth, sentencing Upton, said: "You were involved in a very large commercial enterprise to produce cannabis on a scale close to being regarded as industrial.
"The fact you were the gardener reduces your culpability but nevertheless it impossible to regard what you were involved in as anything other than a professional, criminal enterprise which you knew at all stages your involvement in this."
