Wolverhampton drugs den carpenter avoids jail

Andrew Jones was unaware of why he was being asked to convert a garage in Essington in to separate rooms, until he saw plants under cultivation, Stafford Crown Court heard.

But he carried on with the work regardless and even delivered a load of fans and transformers for the man who had leased the garage.

See also: Cannabis grown to save money, court told.

He was arrested when police raided the property in Brownshore Lane last November.

Jones was sitting in his van at the back of the garage.

The 45-year-old of Bentley Road, Wolverhampton, admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis. He was sentenced to two years jail, suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.

See also: Cannabis smuggling care worker avoids prison.

Recorder Mr Mark Wall QC told him: "Your role, in effect, was to build the premises, separating it in to a number of rooms so a significant amount of cannabis could be grown.

"This was going to be a commercial enterprise, although I accept you didn't realise that when you were first asked."

Mr Justin Jarmola (corr), prosecuting, said when officers carried out the search raid on November 13, Jones's van was blocking the entrance and he was told to move it.

Inside, there was a smell of cannabis and the noise of fans. The garage had six completed rooms containing a total of 215 cannabis plants, with another two rooms under construction. The electricity supply had been tampered with to allow abstraction.

The estimated yield from the 215 plants could have had a street value of up to £63,000.

In Jones's van were fans and transformers. His fingerprints were found on papers inside the garage, but in a basis of plea, Jones said that had resulted from him sweeping up.

Jones said he had been hired to do work at the garage, firstly to repair the roof, then to convert the interior. At some stage he became aware cannabis was being grown there, but carried on with the work he had been asked to do.

He maintained he had nothing to do with the electricity other than to box in some exposed wires and played no part in sowing, feeding or in any way tending the cannabis plants.

See also: Drug user caught growing cannabis avoids jail.

Mr Chris O'Gorman, defending, said: "Jones can now be seen as a genuine, honest, trustworthy man who got himself involved in something - the scale of the operation was way beyond what he expected, even when he became aware of what was going on.

"He was told what to do, what to build - this is what happens, someone rents a property like this garage and brings in a plumber, an electrician and a carpenter."

Mr O'Gorman added that the man who leased the garage had also been arrested, but was released with no further action taken against him.