Man caught growing 340 cannabis plants says they were for personal use

A man caught with more than £47,000 of cannabis in a Shirley home claimed the drugs were for his own consumption. But a judge at Croydon Crown Court ruled last Wednesday that James Dervish's harvest of 340 plants at the property in Orchard Avenue was clearly a commercial enterprise for potential profit. The 37-year-old, of Tylecroft Road, Norbury, pleaded guilty to cultivating the cannabis and will be sentenced on September 17.

His 36 year-old wife Emma, of Oval Road, East Croydon, had earlier admitted a charge of allowing the house to be used for the drugs venture and she will be sentenced at the same time. Paul Andrews, prosecuting, said police raided the property on December 3, 2009 and, in the loft, found plants in three stages of growth. It was estimated on the street they would, combined, fetch £47,300. But dad-of-four Dervish denied that selling the drugs was his aim.



"I started smoking cannabis when I was about 13," he said "After two years I got into heroin. I stopped heroin two years ago but my cannabis use shot through the roof." He claimed the cannabis factory was to feed his habit of smoking between 10 and 14 grams of cannabis a day. He had learnt from the internet how to set up the factory, and spent about £700 for the equipment needed to nourish the plants.

Deputy Circuit Judge Crawford Lindsay rejected Dervish's evidence and added: "I am satisfied he would have turned it into money. This man was growing cannabis with a view to dealing." The couple were allowed bail until their sentencing.