The ‘gardener’ for a near £100,000 Angus cannabis cultivation has been jailed for 32 months.
Drugs squad officers found nearly 50 plants growing in Jay Potter’s bedroom at his Restenneth Drive flat in Forfar after raiding the property following a tip-off – then discovered a 14 gramme block of heroin worth almost £1,500 in a jacket during their detailed search of the property.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard 22-year-old Potter had been put under pressure to look after the plants because of drug debts, in what a sheriff described as a “significant offence.”
Potter appeared for sentence having previously admitted being concerned in the production and supply of cannabis between January 11 and March 11 this year, and the supply of diamorphine on the latter date.
Not guilty pleas entered on behalf of a co-accused, Potter’s partner Koreen Farquharson, were previously accepted by the Crown.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said the accused allowed entry to police who arrived at the flat with a drugs search warrant, and a strong smell of cannabis was immediately obvious.
The 47 plants in the bedroom were of six to eight weeks’ maturity and the prosecutor said their potential illicit value ranged from a low figure of £32,000 up to a high end of £97,200.
Potter, described on the indictment as a prisoner at HMP Perth, was co-operative with police throughout the search and gave a no comment interview when detained, the court was told.
His solicitor said: “The sum and substance is that he accepts responsibility.”
The court also heard that Potter has indictment matters relating to assault and robbery and assault to severe injury hanging over his head at courts in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Sheriff Jack Brown told him: “The sum involved in so far as the cannabis is concerned is substantial and your involvement there is a significant one.
“I take account of the indication in the report that you may have been under some element of pressure in becoming involved in matters, but you allowed your house to be used for the cultivation of cannabis over a significant period of time. These are matters that have to be dealt with severely.”
