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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Jail for man who ran one of UK's
Alton Today Friday 18 May 2007 A BEECH man has been jailed for one of the biggest drugs production operations the UK has ever seen. Allen Taylor, 38, was given a seven-year sentence at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, May 4, for masterminding the operation at Kings Hill Farm, Beech. The court heard that the cannabis farm could have become the biggest in the country with its 4,000 plants netting in the region of £1.5 million a year. Several buildings on the farm had been divided up into rooms to grow, harvest and dry the weed, with one crop alone expected to produce a street value of £330,000 But, after spending £20,000 of his own money on the project, Taylor – a family man and well respected in the community – will never see a return. The father of two had spent £15,000 on building supplies and used his good credit rating to set up sophisticated light, heat and water systems. He had installed electronic gates at both ends of the eight-acre farm and employed a labour force of five – one of the team, Michael Dickinson from Doncaster, had previous drugs-related convictions and had been brought in to advise on how to cultivate cannabis en mase. Police suspicions had been raised by other investigations and following a tip-off that the premises was consuming vast quantities of water and electricity. The premises was raided during the early hours of April 28, 2005, and several men were arrested. Allen Taylor was arrested shortly after. Pc Kevin Darvill of the Serious Crime unit in Southampton said it had soon became clear that Taylor had “used his business as a front to finance and also to hide behind financing this criminal enterprise”. It was, he said, “certainly the biggest cannabis farm we know of in Hampshire, and potentially one of the biggest in England.” During the investigation officers also unearthed plans to buy a former MOD site at Dunkerswell near Exeter and turn it into a massive drugs factory. The proposal to convert underground bunkers would have made the Beech set-up look like “child’s play”. In sentencing Allen Taylor to seven years for his part as “the prime mover” in the Beech enterprise, Judge Recorder Alastair Malcolm said that Taylor had provided the premises and the finance, and would have provided funds for the Exeter site as well. While Taylor hadn’t thought of the idea, he would have profited from the business and had been quite happy to take part in it. In the judge’s opinion, Taylor had clearly been “motivated by greed”. The other five defendants also received prison sentences. Described as the ‘eyes and ears’ of his brother, Alexander Taylor, 29, from Christchurch, Dorset, was jailed for three years, Kevin Conway, 40, from Warwick and said to be in on the operation from the start, received five years, while ‘right-hand man’ Peter Willis, 38, from Honiton in Devon was sentenced to 42 months and James Barrett, 21, also from Honiton, will spend a year behind bars. Michael Dickinson, 38, was jailed for four years but had appeared separately for security reasons. http://www.alton-herald-today.co.uk/
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