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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Carlisle cannabis farm couple are spared jail by city judge
News and Star, Carlisle Tuesday 01 Nov 2011 A police raid last November on the Raffles Avenue home of Kevin Knotman, 38, and Francesca Lightburn, 37, revealed they were cultivating 126 plants. As the officers arrived, Knotman told them: "We are banged to rights. I might as well tell you – it's all in the back room." He then led them to the room where the plants – a few weeks short of maturity – were growing under a plastic tent, with a complicated watering and heating system. In a back bedroom, police found the sophisticated equipment the couple had bought from the internet. It included specialist lighting and a hydroponic watering kit. Elsewhere in the house police found two grinders, plastic bags – each bearing a cannabis logo – and more cannabis seeds. A subsequent court hearing before Recorder Roger Farley QC ruled that there was no conclusive proof the couple, who admitted producing the cannabis, intended to sell it on to other users. As a result, the judge ruled that they should be sentence on the basis that it was produced for their own use. At the city’s crown court yesterday, prosecutor Becky McGregor said the haul of cannabis found at the couple's home would have provided the couple with enough for 250 days. If harvested, it could have yielded up to 1.7 kilos of cannabis, she said. "The estimated value would be between £10,000 and £17,000," she added. Between them, the couple said, they got through four grams of cannabis a day – worth around £40 if bought on the street. When interviewed by police, they said they produced the drug themselves because it was expensive to buy it from dealers. They admitted spending £1,000 on the cultivation equipment. Lightburn had collected it from somebody in Brampton. She told officers she needed to use the drug because of she suffers from a chronic bowel condition, and at an earlier court hearing both she and Knotman were described as "heavy" cannabis users. Recorder Farley gave Lightburn a 24-month community order with supervision and he gave Knotman a 12-month community order, with a requirement to do 150 hours' unpaid work. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/carlisle-cannabis-farm-couple-are-spared-jail-by-city-judge-1.893099?referrerPath=news
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