Leeds man found growing 171 cannabis plants in council flat for 'personal use'

Police found 171 cannabis plants being grown throughout Curtis Chapman's three-bedroom flat in Bramley, with two growing tents set up in the kitchen alone.

Leeds Crown Court heard the eventual yield from the plants would have been worth between £18,000 and £42,000 if sold wholesale or between £80,000 and £94,000 if sold as eighths of cannabis on the street.

But Chapman, 34, of Poplar Mount, maintained the plants were being grown for his personal use only and none had been sold to other people.

Prosecutor Robert Galley said police executed a search warrant at the flat on November 8 last year after Yorkshire Water and the council became aware of the illegal activity taking place.

He said officers found plants being grown in each of the three bedrooms and the kitchen, with lighting, foil linings and extraction equipment in use.

Chapman, who has not previous convictions, pleaded guilty to producing a Class B drug and abstracting electricity without authority.

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A probation officer told the court that Chapman's use of cannabis dated back 11 years but had escalated.

He said there was an element of naivety in his decision to use his council property to grow his own supply and he was adamant that he was not part of any supply network.

Khadim Al-Hassan, mitigating, said the offending began because Chapman did not want to have to buy cannabis from dealers.

He said that Chapman handed himself in at a police station when he learned officers had been to his flat and fully admitted what he had done.

Judge Simon Phillips QC said Chapman had written a personal letter to the court setting out the shame he felt at having put himself in this position.

The judge noted that he had continued to hold down full-time employment and was an important part of his daughter's life.

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Handing him a 22-month jail term suspended for two years, he told him: "You will have known as you tended the cannabis grow that you were putting everything you had achieved in life at risk."

Chapman was told he must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work during the period of his suspended sentence.

A hearing to establish whether funds should be recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act will take place at a later date.