A CANNABIS user who grew the drug in a bedroom has been given a suspended sentence.
Kirk Haining received a nine-month prison term, suspended for two years, at Nottingham Crown Court.
He was convicted of producing 43 cannabis plants after a trial in February.
The same jury cleared him of possessing the drug with intent to supply.
Judge James Sampson told Haining, who claims �60-a-week in benefits, that he would be supervised by the Probation Service for the next 12 months.
The judge told him: "I will honour the verdict of the jury who accepted your argument this cannabis was for your own use.
"You are a young man, and although I have indicated you are intelligent and articulate, you are clearly misguided."
The court heard the defendant was producing the cannabis at his rented home in Pavior Road, on the Bestwood Estate, last March.
When quizzed by police, the 24-year-old, who had no previous convictions, said he was growing it for his own use and denied supplying.
Police asked him what exactly he was intending to do with the cannabis and he said he was going to smoke it himself, the court was told. He accepted that the cannabis was his and that he had bought the equipment to grow it, the court heard, but had argued that the law did not apply to him.
The judge entered not guilty pleas on the defendant's behalf to the charges.
James Cleary, prosecuting, had told the court: "He and some of the people he associates with dispute that the English law – the English legal system – applies to them."
Haining contacted police when a man started kicking in his front door last March.
The man had gone by the time police arrived, but they still wanted to find out what had happened.
Haining said he did not invite the officers in, but one of them said they were going in anyway.
Prosecutors said the defendant refused to give his name. Police also got no response when they asked him to open the door of a locked bedroom.
There was heat coming from behind the door, electricity cables running out from underneath it, and a strong smell of cannabis, the court heard.
The door was forced and inside was a crop of 2.46kg of useable cannabis, consisting of 43 plants. It would have been worth �12,180 if sold in bulk, the court heard.
But if it had been divided up and sold in smaller deals to users it would have been worth up to �18,920.
Haining had told the court he is commonly known as Kirk and the family name is Haining.
 |  |
Radio Science fiction England cricket team Women Economic growth (GDP) CVs
No comments:
Post a Comment