Dudley cannabis gardener avoids jail (From Dudley News)

Dudley cannabis gardener avoids jail

4:09pm Thursday 6th September 2012 in News

A 26 YEAR-old Dudley man who was a gardener at a cannabis farm capable of producing £33,000 worth of the controlled drug in a year has been spared jail.
 

The farm - inside a house at Walsall - contained 44 plants that had annual potential yield of around three kilo's of cannabis, said Mr Andrew Molloy prosecuting.
 

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court there was a full hydroponic system for the plants inside two rooms in the property and they could have "provided a significant quantity" of the drug for commercial purposes.
 

Robert Jednorog of Pearce Close, admitted producing cannabis and was given a 12 month jail term suspended for two years.
 

Mr Peter Arnold defending Polish-born Jednorog, who was also told to carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community, said he had already spent 108 days behind bars since his arrest - the equivalent of an eight month jail term.
 

He described Jednorog as a "vulnerable" individual who had been drifting around before he was approached by someone and asked to look after the cannabis plants.
 

It was because he was in a fragile state and needing money that he agreed to the suggestion, said Mr Arnold. "He was exploited
by others."
 

Judge Helen Hughes told Jednorog it was clear he was a man who wanted to work and,  for that reason, she said she was just able to avoid sending him back to prison.