A gang of cannabis growers who set up five different farms in Liverpool and Wirral were sentenced today.
Three of the men were jailed for a total of six years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court while two people were given suspended sentences for their part in the conspiracy which saw 74 plants, worth £66,000, recovered from one farm alone.
They also bypassed electricity meters to avoid paying around £35k in bills for power used to grow their drugs.
All five pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis and conspiracy to abstract electricity after police raided cannabis farms in Allerton , Prescot and Wallasey .
Charlotte Atherton, prosecuting, said it was a “sophisticated and dangerous” way of tampering with electricity.
Johnathan Kenney, aged 28, of St Domingo Vale, Everton , was jailed for two years for his role at two Allerton cannabis farms – one on Streatham Avenue and the other on Alverstone Road.
Kenney is already in prison for knocking down and killing pensioner Mona Thornborough , who was on her mobility scooter, while driving at 52mph in a 30mph zone. He also has convictions for offences including possession of cannabis and possession with intent to supply cannabis.
Police found 74 cannabis plants in the Alverstone Road property.
Craig Tennant, 40, of East Float Quay in Wallasey, had Jensen’s number stored under “dude” on his mobile phone, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He has seven previous convictions for 10 offences, none drug-related.
Ms Atherton described his and Fay Saunders’ operation in a property on Geneva Road, Wallasey, as of a “commercial scale”.
Their fingerprints were found on light bulb holders above 70 cannabis plants in the property, where the electricity had again been bypassed.
Saunders, 46, of Marmion Road, Aigburth , also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was handed a 12 month suspended sentence and ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work. She has no previous convictions.
Scott Wells, 24, of Wilson Road, Prescot, was given a six month suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 60 hours of community service after police raided his property and discovered that, once again, the electricity meter had been bypassed.
They were all connected by a “go-to electrician”, Paul Jensen, who was paid in cash to bypass meters.
The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, Liverpool Crown Court.
Jensen, of St Mary’s Road, Garston , has 27 previous convictions for 45 offences including possession of cannabis.
The mobile number of Jensen was stored in Wells’ phone under the name ‘Spark’. Wells also had no previous convictions.
Judge Elizabeth Nicholls, who sentenced Jensen to three years and two months behind bars, said it was a “particularly dangerous method which carries a significant risk of extraneous metalwork becoming live.”
She told Jensen, 51: “You are not the brains behind this operation, you are the go-to spark.”
Judge Nicholls told the group that cannabis is “not a harmless substance” and said it “prevents the user from engaging with society in any meaningful way.”
Detective Sergeant Richie Smith said: “These offenders are only interested in making a fast buck, they don’t care about the potential health consequences for those who use their drugs, or the dangers they are creating for those who may live next door to their illegal enterprise.
“The knock-on effects can be devastating for decent, law-abiding people who live there and we would continue to urge anyone with any information about cannabis production in their area to get in contact so we can continue to take action.”
A sixth member of the group, Michael Casey, had his sentencing adjourned for three weeks so he can be assessed for a drugs rehabilitation order.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/