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UK: 'No softer sentences' as drugs trio jailed
Reading Evening Post
Monday 08 Nov 2004 Judge: cannabis downgrade hasn't changed view CANNABIS growers and dealers will not get softer sentences despite the Government downgrading the drug, Reading's top judge has ruled. Judge Stanley Spence rejected arguments that the reclassification of cannabis from class B to C should reduce sentences as he jailed three men behind what is believed to be the biggest cannabis factory discovered in Britain. Jed Murphy, the man described as one of the organisers, was jailed for seven and a half years while his two helpers Ian Rollinson and Keith Alexander were sentenced to five years and four and a half years. Police found 10,000 plants growing in an elaborate hydroponics set-up at the Belscott industrial estate in Finchampstead in April. They estimate it could have yielded crops worth UKP1.5 million every year. Cannabis was downgraded in January - ironically the day after Murphy and his cohorts began growing the drug - and Patricia Harding, defending Rollinson, tried to convince Judge Spence it meant the Government also intended sentences were cut too. But Judge Spence, residing judge at Reading Crown Court, said on Friday that the change was intended to see fewer people arrested for possession but concentrated efforts aimed at growers and dealers. 'Whether it has been reclassified or not makes no difference to the previous guidance for this enterprise,' he said. 'It is still a prohibited drug and there has been an increase for massive trafficking cases, which lends weight to my view it has not altered previous guidelines.' He added: 'Considerable harm was intended by the release of this drug on the market. 'There are different views but one fairly consistent view is that nobody starts on drugs without starting on cannabis. 'That might not be strictly accurate but it certainly leads a lot of people on to hard drugs.' His comments were welcomed by detectives from Thames Valley Police's crime and drugs investigation unit, which raided the unit and neighbouring Thatched Cottage in Reading Road. DC Steve Jones said: 'There has been considerable public debate about the merits of police enforcing cannabis laws since the reclassification but Judge Spence's comments show it must continue to be done. This shows to me the courts take cannabis very seriously. 'The reclassification means potentially fewer people may get prosecuted for possession but he has clearly given a strong message that those who distribute and produce it will be dealt with as severely as in the past.' Rollinson, 41, was the caretaker at the site while Alexander helped build some of the set-up. Murphy was living rent free in the UKP800,000 cottage next door. Both properties were owned by Murphy's friend and multi-millionaire businessman Kevin Cox, who told the court he knew nothing of the dope factory. Rollison, of Carshalton, and Alexander, 42, of Hemel Hempstead, admitted conspiracy to cultivate cannabis. Murphy, 35, admitted possession of a tasar stun gun found in the cottage and seven deception offences, for which he received an extra 18 months, making a total of nine years.
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