Property used as cannabis farm to buy grandparents new kitchen

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Talwinder Singh Sandhu rented a property in Dudley after being offered £10,000 by drug producers.

Sandhu, aged 20, of Furlong Walk, Lower Gornal, Dudley, was handed a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to allowing his premises to be used for the production of cannabis.

He was also ordered to do 125 hours unpaid community work, and to pay £250 costs plus a £100 victim surcharge.

Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting, said that in May this year Sandhu took on the lease of premises in Brettell Street, Dudley.

On June 25 police raided the property and found two rooms turned over the production of cannabis.

They found 117 cannabis plants, 66 in a mature state, and 51 seedlings, said Mr Searle.

"The mature plants alone had a value of between £12,000 and £48,000, depending on the yield," he said.

"If they were split up, the street value would have been very much more."

Mr Searle said Sandhu told police he was not involved in the production of the plants, but had been offered £10,000 to allow his premises to be used for that purpose.

"He said he was going to by his grandparents a new kitchen with some of the money, and keep the rest for himself."

Mr Mukhtar Ubhi, for Sandhu, said a suspended sentence would be appropriate for his client.

He said Sandhu was now about to start work for his father.

Passing sentence, Judge Robin Onions told Sandhu: "You are really a rather silly young man.

"I accept you are in financial difficulties, but so are many people.

"The sensible ones among us try to deal with financial difficulties in a sensible way."