A green fingered cannabis user who set up a growing operation was so successful he grew a crop which would have been worth £12,500 if he had not been caught.
Sean Belton planted 25 cannabis seeds at his bedsit and even through he was not using a high tech hydroponic unit they all grew into healthy plants which were capable of producing more than a kilogram of the drug.
He had set up the operation using information from the internet which suggested only a fraction of the plants would survive, but his entire crop proved to be healthy.
Belton, aged 28, of Vane Hill Road, Torquay, admitted the production of cannabis and was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.
Mr Gordon Richings, prosecuting, said police raided Belton's bedsit and immediately noticed the smell of the plants. They found 25 with a potential yield of 1.26 kilograms and street value of £12,500.
He told police they were all for his own use and he planted them to feed his heavy cannabis habit.
Mr Ben Darby, defending, said Belton has turned his life around after previously being homeless and using harder drugs and now wants to devote his life to supporting his family.
He grew the drugs because he was using up to eight grams of cannabis a day at the time but is now weaning himself off it.
He said:"This was his first attempt at growing and he researched it on the internet which suggested he would struggle to grow all the plants successfully, but they all grew."
Judge Phillip Wassall told Belton:"These plants had a potential street value of £12,500. You were a heavy cannabis user but you were never going to smoke all this stuff in a million years.
"Where there is such excessive production it is inevitable some of it is going to find its way back into the system."
