Armed men alert led police to £7k cannabis haul
A terrified 24-year-old got more than he bargained for when he alerted police to two armed men outside his home, a judge was told.
The officers who responded to the call did not catch the knife-wielding crooks when they arrived at Aaron Paxon’s address in Pennwood Court, Merry Hill on March 20, but they did smell cannabis and searched the property, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The search of the property unearthed two dozen plants being cultivated with a hydroponic system in a cupboard and two more in a nearby wardrobe, said Mr David Swinnerton, prosecuting.
Police estimated the crop had a potential yield of over £7,000.
Pressured
However it was claimed at court that the 24-year-old might have been pressured into growing the drugs.
Mr Thomas Griffiths, defending, said unemployed Paxon, who had several previous convictions and had recently become a father, suffered from a personality disorder and might have been exploited by others because of his naivety.
The defendant, now from Carder Crescent, Bilston, pleaded guilty to cultivating and possessing cannabis and was given a 10-month jail term suspended for two years with a three-month night time curfew.
He was also ordered to complete a rehabilitation course.
Recorder Geoffrey Kelly told him: “You were doing this for financial gain.
Coercion
“You may have been persuaded to get involved but this did not amount to coercion.
“People who grow drugs are a menace to themselves and the community, not simply because it is illegal, but they expose themselves and their neighbours to the danger of others trying to steal the crop.
“You are now a father and it is time for you to grow up or you are in danger of wasting the rest of your life.”
