Man jailed for 'seven-year stash' of cannabis (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Man jailed for 'seven-year stash' of cannabis

1:00pm Sunday 16th September 2012 in News

A KEEN gardener has been jailed after dozens of cannabis plants were found in his house.

Police raided Raymond Smithers’ Clacton home in December and discovered 113 cannabis plants in tents in a back bedroom, a court heard.

The 41-year-old admitted growing the plants but denied selling them, saying he smoked up to 50 joints a day.

But Recorder John Caudle said Smithers had been growing cannabis for production and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Smithers, of Cotswold Road, Clacton, said: “I didn’t earn a single penny out of it.

“I didn’t know how many plants I had. It got a little bit out of control but it was all personal.”

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Smithers had up to seven years supply of cannabis in his house if only two grams, the usual daily consumption according to an expert, was consumed a day.

The former painter and decorator said he suffered from depression, no longer worked and said growing cannabis had become his “hobby”.