A farm manager who set up a massive cannabis cultivation was jailed for three years after Scottish Hydro-Electric accused him of stealing nearly £80,000-worth of electricity to power the operation.
Ashley Harris eventually admitted stealing £15,000-worth of power to grow 77 cannabis plants.
The agricultural worker was stealing electricity to power the specialist lamps, heaters and fans he was using to cultivate the drug, which had a potential value of around £40,000.
The 34-year-old freely admitted he had decided to set up a cannabis farm and become a major player in the cultivation of the drug as a career choice.
A raid on his cottage discovered the plants growing in one bedroom and Harris had an attic space set up to expand his illicit trade.
The plants could have produced cannabis with a potential street value of £36,960 and Harris had a 356g stash of herbal cannabis worth £3,560.
Further investigations revealed Harris had been a Scottish Hydro-Electric customer but had set up a meter bypass so he did not have to pay for his electricity.
The power company told police he had managed to use £77,927-worth of electricity without paying for it and had caused a further £600 of damage by tampering with the system. However, the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced figure of around £15,000.
Harris, of Rossiebank Farm Cottage, Dunning, admitted stealing electricity between February 1 2011 and March 14 2014 by inserting a meter bypass over the same time period.
Harris also admitted producing cannabis at the cottage between December 6 2013 and March 14 last year and then being concerned in its supply to others.
Police received a tip-off that Harris was involved with drugs so they sought a warrant and carried out a raid on his home.
When they asked him if he had any drugs he replied: “There’s about 80 plants.”
Officers found the 77-plant cultivation in the bedroom, which had been sealed off with reflective panels, and the windows had been blacked out with wooden boards.
There were 20 sodium lamps set up along with “numerous” power packs and a large extractor fan.
The converted attic space was identically set up for a secondary crop to be grown.
Harris also pointed out a tub of “weed” in the living room and made a “full and frank confession” about the scale of the operation he had decided to embark upon.
Sheriff William Wood said: “You may well have purchased the seeds on a whim but, thereafter, you moved into a different league.
“There was a significant degree of planning. You made arrangements to bypass the meter.
“You and others need to be deterred from this sort of conduct.”