UNITED KINGDOM.
BEEF FARMERS SECOND INCOME.
Judge Christopher Elwen at Truro Crown Court in Cornwall, sentenced a 57 year old Cornish farmer, to 51 weeks in prison suspended for two years coupled with 300 hours community service, after the farmer had pleaded guilty to growing and selling cannabis on his farm.
The farmers partner in crime, was a 50 year old bus driver Tony Kilmartin, who received the same sentence. Kilmartin read a plea of mitigation from a prepared statement to the court, in which he said that they had grown 5 crops of which two were stolen, causing him to move into a caravan on the farm and act as a security guard.
Police found a shed on the 60 acre farm, that was 30 feet by 15 feet, that appeared derelict but in fact contained 200 cannabis plants. The farm had been in the farmers family for 120 years, being a man with no previous convictions, assisted the Judge in the sentencing assuring the farmer would keep his liberty.
The farmer in his own mitigation, explained to the judge that he had problems with his bank, causing him so sell 130 of his cattle to pay off his overdraft. He then took the opportunity of getting a second income from his crops of cannabis. He has planned to use the extra income to improve his farm and build stables.
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