Jailed cannabis grower was "surprised" by scale of his own operation at a house in Harehills

Damien O'Reilly, 39, had originally pleaded not guilty to the three counts he faced at Leeds Crown Court in a hearing today but changed his stance to guilty at a plea and trial preparation held last month.

Today (Monday) the court heard that it was a chance encounter with police in Burmantofts, who were attending a separate incident, that led them to discovering the extensive set up at his then home at Brown Hill Crescent in Harehills.

On the evening of May 6 police had been called to deal with an incident at Appleton Court that didn't concern O'Reilly but noticed him acting suspicious and in his agitation he dropped a bag of cannabis. As police tried to search O'Reilly, he ran off and there was a foot pursuit, during which he threw his rucksack down a rubbish chute.

When that was searched, £80 in cash was discovered along with three sandwich bags containing cannabis and a set of weighing scales. He was taken to the police station and his house was searched where officers came across what was described in court as a "complex" operation.

Prosecutor Adam Walker told the court, there were two fully lined and purpose built hydroponic growing tents, one which was empty and one which had 21 seedlings that were grown to between eight and 18 inches tall. Wires had been rigged up to bypass the electric meter with a complex set of plugs and adaptors to power "various electric items", and on the first floor of the house a bucket full of cannabis buds were suspended from the ceiling in the drying process.

In addition to that, the walls and windows were covered in insulation, air vents fitted, lightbulbs and timers were discovered as well as irrigation systems and nutrition supplements.

A forensic scientist analysed the cannabis plants in the drying process and judged them to be 1.16kg in weight and having a potential street value of £11,600.

Mr Walker added that this was all being produced from one tent and with the other empty one "there was clearly greater scope available and intended."

He added: "To produce one complete crop and bring the 21 plants to the stage that they were represents a considerable period of time which would require a significant volume of electricity extraction."

Defending barrister, Catherine Ravenscroft said the defendant had no intention to use the set up to its full capacity and was himself "surprised" by the scale of it.

She said: "Mr O'Reilly says he paid somebody to do the set up capable of producing cannabis but did not expect how much. He was surprised that the amount of money he gave them paid for such an extensive set up. The money paid for more than he thought it was going to."

O'Reilly has a previous conviction for production of cannabis from 2014 where, Ms Ravenscroft says, the defendant was just there to "water the plants", he is now taking less drugs than before, is doing well in supported accommodation and hopes to re-sit his GCSEs.

Judge, Mr Recorder Singh QC, sentenced O'Reilly to three years and nine months for the count of production, with an 18 month sentence for possession and a further eight weeks for the abstraction of electricity to run concurrently.