Police raid greenhouse on drugs tip and find tomato plants

Terrified father-of-two James Diamond awoke to find police swarming all over his home in Bream after mistakenly believing it was a cannabis factory. Around 15 officers armed with a search warrant burst into his house yesterday morning but all they found were three tomato plants. James and his three-year-old son Syrus were asleep upstairs, having just returned from a family holiday in Turkey, when police raided the house. James, 34, said: "It was very frightening. I woke up to see a huge policeman standing in my bedroom and he said: 'We are here to take your cannabis factory apart.'

"There were officers all over the house and in the back garden and they said that no one was allowed to leave the house. It was scary for Syrus, who got quite upset when he saw police everywhere. " The officers were let into James' house at around 10.30am by electricians who were carrying out re-wiring.



James said he has never been in trouble with the police and his only crime was being a keen gardener. James lives at Maple Stone House with his fiancee Debbie Baker, who is an NHS chiropodist, Syrus and their daughter Amiena. He said he could not believe officers were able to raid his home without any evidence. He said: "It's shocking to me that someone can just ring up the police and that justifies them getting a warrant and searching your home."

James said he is concerned at what the neighbours will think after seeing police swarm all over the house. Forest Inspector Chris Thorley said: "We executed a search warrant at an address in Bream as a result of information received from the local neighbourhood. We are happy to report that no drugs were found but would like to stress that we take such action because we know that concerns about drug crime is something people like us to address swiftly."