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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK; Cannabis producer walks free
Elwyn Roberts The Western Mail, Wales
Saturday 15 Feb 2003 A MAN who set up an illegal underground cannabis-making factory on an industrial estate escaped a prison term and walked free from court yesterday. The Crown Prosecution Service accepted that all the cannabis that was being produced was either for his own use - because he suffered headaches - or was to give to his terminally-ill wife for pain relief. Jason David Lee, 33, of Rhyl, whose wife has since died of cancer leaving him as the sole carer of four children, admitted cultivating cannabis and supplying cannabis to his wife. He was ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work under a community punishment order and serve a 12-month community rehabilitation order. Judge Nicholas Woodward was told that the basis of his guilty plea, that the factory-style operation was not for commercial purposes but purely for the personal use of the defendant and his wife, had been accepted by the prosecution at an earlier magistrates' court hearing. The judge said people normally went straight to prison for such offences, but he described it as a wholly exceptional case. He added, "Normally, these offences are very grave indeed. However, I am satisfied that the circumstances of this case are wholly exceptional. "First, the Crown have acknowledged and agreed that all the cannabis that was being produced was intended for personal consumption of yourself and your wife. None of that material would have travelled to any other persons. "Secondly, I recognise that at the time your wife was terminally ill with a very painful condition and that the motivation for supplying her was to do entirely with her medical situation at the time. Sadly, not long after this, she died." Judge Woodward said that while the defendant had previous convictions, there was nothing for drugs and he had pleaded guilty and was therefore entitled to full credit. "The most significant aspect of your personal circumstances is that you and your wife had four children aged between 18 months and 13. They have had the burden of losing their mother and the responsibility of looking after them rests entirely with you." The judge said he had seen from a report that he had taken to caring for his children in a responsible way and was doing his best for them. "Absolutely no purpose would be served to the community as a whole to take you away from the children at this stage. It would be extremely damaging to them," the judge said. The community rehabilitation and punishment order was to echo the fact that the court could not in any way condone what he had done and it was right that he should be punished for what he had done. Prosecutor John Oates told the court that police armed with a search warrant went to an industrial unit on the Nant Hall Road at Prestatyn, which was leased to the defendant, and found a fairly large-scale cannabis factory. It was not until the second day of the search that the underground factory was found because the entrance, down a ladder, was concealed by boxes. Police there found a sophisticated hydroponic growing system which had 89 plants ready for harvesting with a potential yield of 908 grammes. Another 80 smaller plants were found and in a lorry container a further quantity of smaller plants again was discovered.
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