Out-of-work Leeds joiner who turned to growing cannabis worth up to £25,000 inside his Harehills home

Jon Marcus Butterworth was caught with half-a-kilogramme of the drug on him when he tried to flee police. Officers later uncovered a grow worth up to £25,000 at his home on Hudson Grove, complete with timers, fans and ventilation equipment.

The electricity had been by-passed and they also found a dried bag of cannabis suggesting it was not the first crop he had produced.

Prosecutor Jade Edwards told Leeds Crown Court that police had pulled over Butterworth’s car on the afternoon of December 14, 2020 because of his erratic driving, but he then got out and ran.

After as brief chase he was dragged to the ground by an officer and he dropped a black bag filled with cannabis, separated into dealer bags. They then found the 36 plants at his address that were nearing maturity. He gave no comments during his police interview. He admitted cannabis dealing, and concerned in the supply of cannabis. Stephen Welford, mitigating for the 24-year-old, said that he had lost his job and had failed with a new business set up, so was left in debt.

He said that Butterworth had a “lack of insight” into his own daily cannabis use, and had taken the drug to relieve his own anxiety. He said he was now working part time again.

Addressing Butterworth, Judge Ray Singh said: “You say you were in debt, it would be interesting to know how you paid for all of this equipment, no doubt you were expecting a profit.

“You seem to think it was nothing, you simply have not fathomed the seriousness of the situation. You are dismissive about this enterprise. It was to make money, it simply wasn’t to feed your addiction. It was an operation to supply directly to users. You were clearly going to make money out of this.”

He jailed him for 20 months, but suspended the sentence for two years because he has no other convictions and has stayed out of trouble since. He gave him a four-month curfew, and a four-month drug rehabilitation requirement, telling him that if he fails at either, he will go to prison.