Hartlepool taxi driver grew cannabis to pay for relative's operation

Taxi driver Paul Grant, 47, from Hartlepool lost his taxi licence over the discovery of his drugs farm in a terraced house.

But the judge at Teesside Crown Court said that he would be no use to the relative if he was in Durham Prison.

Grant rented the house specially to grow cannabis, said prosecutor Jon Harley.

When police raided it in his absence on February 23 they found 75 plants with a street value of £21,000.

Grant handed himself in and he said that he wanted to raise money for a walking machine and towards an operation for his relative.

The judge, Recorder Mark McKone, told him that cannabis use led teenagers onto Class A drugs which cause misery and crime.

He added that the Probation Service felt that it could work with Grant, who the court heard had 52 convictions, towards putting his life on track and so he would give him a suspended sentence with help in the community.

He said: "You know that if you breach this order and commit serious offences in the future that is where you are going."

Grant, of Hazel Grove, Hartlepool, was given a 16-month jail sentence, which was suspended for two years, a tagged seven-month curfew from 7.30pm to 5am and 20 days of rehabilitation activities after he pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis.

The judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the plants and growing equipment