Novice Bassetlaw cannabis farmer didn’t realise he’d grown £40,000 harvest

Police found four kilos of the class B drug hanging up to dry in nets from the ceilings of Liam Broad's rented address on Chapelgate in Retford ,on September 8, 2020.

Adrian Amer, prosecuting, said Broad, aged 44, told officers he was growing it to smoke himself and give free to friends.

He bought £400 of equipment and "didn't know the yield would be so great."

If sold in one-gramme £10 deals the harvest could have fetched up to £40,000, a drug expert told the court. And that was "far too high for personal use”.

Matthew Hayes, mitigating, said Broad, a site manager for a groundworking company, earns £1,000 per week, but owes £60,000 - mostly to the taxman.

He entered into an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) six months ago but HMRC has voted against it and he has a Citizens Advice appointment tomorrow to find a manageable way to pay the debt.

He has no previous convictions and recently became a father again, said Mr Hayes.

Judge John Sampson told him: "Cannabis blights lives, it destroys communities. It is a pernicious drug and you were perpetuating the misery it causes.

"You say you were supplying only to friends. But they were subject to the same side effects of this nauseous chemical."

Broad, of Oakdale Road, Retford, admitted cannabis production at Nottingham Crown Court.

On Tuesday, he received a two-year sentence, suspended for 21 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work.