‘No admittance’ as man grew cannabis plants in his home

The 44-year-old, who at a previous hearing had given his address as Rue des Roquettes, St Andrew’s, admitted producing the class B substance cannabis.

He also admitted possessing cannabis along with the class C rated drugs Alprazolam and Gabapentin.

Crown Advocate Fiona Russell told the court how the search warrant had been conducted last September, when no one was home.

A locked door to a wing in which the defendant was thought to have lived had signs on it saying it was private, no admittance, and carried a warning about Covid.

A strong smell of cannabis was coming from within.

There were two cultivation tents – one with three cannabis plants growing in it and another with one.

Both had dehumidifying equipment and there were signs of husbandry.

Some leaves on the plants were yellow and others were wilting. A total of 379.83g of herbal cannabis was found, which included 11 jars in a bedroom on which four of the defendant’s fingerprints were found.

There was a total of 153 Gabapentin tablets and 174 of Alprazolam.

Hart was arrested on his return to the island in October.

He accepted tending the plants, but said he had abandoned this when he managed to source enough cannabis from elsewhere for his own use.

The only matters on his record were unrelated.

Defending, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client had already suffered substantially from his offending.

He had lost the job in the finance industry that he had held for more than two decades, along with his professional qualifications as a chartered accountant and financial analyst which had taken him eight years to get.

His offending arose out of traumatic family circumstances.

He and a family member to whom he was close were involved in a road accident in Thailand in which a person died.

The family member, who was driving, faced criminal proceedings and was told he could face up to three years in prison.

His client became so stressed at this that he sought medical help in Thailand and was prescribed cannabis.

He was also given Gabapentin to combat nerve pain he suffered as a result of the accident.

On his return to Guernsey he found that a housesitter had been growing cannabis in his home. He was outraged at this and told him to remove it. When the housesitter said they could not do that, he had ended up taking advantage of it himself.

He was trying to hold down a stressful job at the time and was advised by a friend to take Alprazolam. All of the drugs had been for personal use only.

Judge Catherine Fooks said the cultivation offence had been small in terms of the number of plants, but well equipped and resourced.

There was no evidence to counter his contention that he had not been the instigator, but he had taken the operation over. Overall, a significant quantity of controlled drugs had been found in his home.

For the cultivation offence, he was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service as a direct alternative to two years in prison and fined £5,000. Sentences of one year, suspended for the same period, were meted in respect of the possession matters – the cannabis consecutive to the cultivation, and the Alprazolam and Gabapentin concurrent.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs was ordered.