Police found 'cottage industry' cannabis farm inside Hartlepool man's home

Paul Thompson, 33, from Hartlepool, continued to smoke the Class B drug despite four convictions for possession.

He was previously jailed and banned for driving under the influence of cannabis on January 19, 2018, after he deliberately collided with a police car in Hartlepool.

When police later searched his home they found “a small cottage industry for the production of cannabis”, said prosecutor Jonnie Walker

It included signs of the end of a crop, with a watering and heating system in the kitchen, and a hole had been cut into the chimney in a bedroom.

Lighting equipment was also discovered.

Mr Walker said: “He continued to deny he had been producing cannabis but he pleaded guilty on the day of his trial.”

Martin Scarborough, defending, said that Thompson suffers from anxiety and depression but that he was fit to complete unpaid work.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Paul Watson, ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the property seized by police.

The judge told him: ”The prosecution have described it as a very small cottage industry type of low-level production

”Since this offence you have been convicted of another offence and your licence period has come to an end.

”It would be unjust to send you back to prison.”

Thompson, of Kinbrace Road, was jailed for nine months, which was suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cannabis and to production of cannabis.

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