A convicted Dundee killer has admitted growing dozens of cannabis plants in a bid to fund his way out of the city.
Stephen Robbins admitted possessing plants with the intent to supply.
Police raided his City Road flat on May 31 2021.
Robbins later told them the drugs would have been sold to another person for £5,000 to fund a move to Nottingham for him and his father, who has since died.
However, prosecutors say the haul could have had a potential value more than four times that sum.
Robbins’ solicitor told Dundee Sheriff Court the 36-year-old was continuing to suffer issues since admitting killing a man in a drunken assault.
He was jailed for 20 months in 2020 after pleading guilty to the culpable homicide by of Dundee dad Ryan Barrie.
Mr Barrie was hit by a wheelie bin, fell and struck his head and later died.
Raid
Fiscal depute Lynne Mannion explained police gained information about drugs at Robbins’ home and obtained a warrant to carry out a “rapid forced entry”.
They discovered 63 cannabis plants.
Unemployed Robbins confessed to police in an interview the cultivation was a one-time operation and the drugs would be sold to an individual for £5,000.
He explained the money raised would be spent on relocating to the Midlands.
Upon further analysis, 35 of the plants were found to be immature or saplings, with no intrinsic value.
The others were worth between £200 and £750 each.
In total, Robbins’ haul was worth between £5,600 and £21,000.
Mitigation
Robbins’ solicitor Ross Donnelly said: “There’s a complicated backstory here involving mental health and trauma, much of which has arisen from the aftermath of the High Court conviction.
“The intention of getting this money was partly to get away from the local area.
“He struggles with his own emotions in the aftermath of that offence.
“He is receiving, now, assistance.”
Sheriff George Way ordered reports and deferred sentencing until later this month.
Robbins will also be sentenced for a separate charge of possessing heroin.
Culpable homicide
In March 2020, Robbins killed 39-year-old Ryan Barrie after an early morning argument.
Robbins got into “a heated exchange” with Mr Barrie which escalated into violence and ended with the victim hitting his head off a wooden fence beam after he was struck with the bin.
Mr Barrie, a DJ and father-of-one, was found bleeding in bushes in a garden in Benvie Gardens after Robbins had fled the scene.
He was helped into a house but shortly complained that his head was sore.
Mr Barrie soon fell asleep and was later tragically found to have stopped breathing.
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