A Dundee sheriff has called on the Scottish Government to increase penalties for electricity cheats who bypass meters.
Sheriff Richard Davidson appealed for an increase in the punishments meted out to criminals, in particular those who bypass electricity meters and cause dangers to others.
He was speaking during the case of a cannabis cultivator at Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Robert Robertson, 31, of St Mungo Terrace, Dundee was sentenced to eight months in prison after he previously admitted on December 17 2012 at St Mungo Terrace producing cannabis and stealing a quantity of electricity.
Robertson was also convicted of having cannabis in his possession and intentionally preventing an electricity meter from registering the quantity of electricity supplied and placing wires into the meter preventing it from registering the true amount used.
He was admonished on the latter two charges.
The court heard how police had discovered the meter bypass and also the cannabis plants when they were called to attend a disturbance at a flat shortly after 10pm on December 17 last year.
Three cannabis plants were visible and a bypass cable was found inserted at the top of the meter.
Sheriff Davidson said: “He helpfully told the social worker he had recently harvested 30 plants and had eight diazepam tablets.”
Defending, Ross Donnelly said: “He is a long-time and regular user of cannabis. He says he has difficulty with his nerves.
“That at the very least is how he began smoking cannabis. A habit formed and it is part of his lifestyle.
“Certainly at one stage a decision was taken not to procure cannabis but to produce cannabis.”
He added that a restriction of liberty order previously imposed had not had a “particularly deterrent effect”.
Sheriff Davidson said the order would have encouraged him to stay at home and grow more cannabis plants.
However, he said the real risk was that everyone in the tenement block could have been exposed to fire by short-circuiting the meter.
“If anyone from the Scottish Government is listening increasing the penalties is long overdue,” he said.
He told Robertson: “To my mind of greater significance is that you put everyone else in that tenement at risk by bypassing the meter and putting them at risk of fire.
“We are aware in this court of a number of incidents of fires started in such circumstances.”
Robertson’s case was the latest in a string of offences involving diverting electricity.
Forfar man Jordan Kyle, 20, who caused £822 worth of damage to the meter of a Lordburn Place flat, was told by a sheriff in July this year he “could easily have been killed” when he received a shock while diverting electricity from his meter.
And Peter Ritchie, 47, of Bridge of Earn, appeared in private at Perth on a petition alleging he produced cannabis at his home and created an electricity meter bypass.
He made no plea or declaration and the case continues.
Meanwhile earlier this month a Dundee man who stole nearly £10,000 worth of electricity narrowly escaped jail.
Cameron Hunter, 53, of Kingsway, had admitted the offence and that he caused damage costing £267.78 to the meter. He was given a community payback order.
Dundee City Council has a page on its website alerting householders of the potential dangers to properties and how to spot the signs of cannabis cultivation from council rented properties.
The page states: “Houses are gutted internally to turn them into cannabis factories. Quite often electrical meters and fuse boxes are bypassed so that they can get huge amounts of power for lamps and heaters.
“The temperature within the house can reach 40 degrees centigrade and rooms may contain chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides.
“Cannabis factories pose a potentially lethal fire risk to the building and neighbouring properties, particularly because they are unoccupied with no means to alert the fire service if a fire occurred.”