George Hume, 41, from Edinburgh, was jailed for four years for turning his rented home in Kinnesswood, Kinross, into a cannabis factory.[1] At Perth Sheriff Court he admitted growing and supplying cannabis between 29 November 2006 and 15 March 2007.[1]
The court heard Hume had acted as caretaker at the property to clear a £4,000 drug debt run up through his addiction to strong skunk cannabis, which cost him about £40 a day while he lived on £80 a week in income support.[1] His solicitor said the arrangement was to last 14 weeks, with Hume directed in watering the plants, and that he had now had a wake-up call about cannabis.[1]
Police raided the flat after a tip-off and found 316 plants growing in pots plus 346 empty pots ready for mass production.[1] The bedroom crop grew under high-voltage lights behind thick plastic sheeting, running so hot it would have shown as a thermal-imaging hotspot, though experts said the plants were over-watered and poorly kept.[1] The court heard they could have produced cannabis worth £7,000, much more had they been healthy.[1] Sheriff Michael Fletcher noted Hume had previously served five years handed down by the High Court in Edinburgh in 2001 for drug offences.[1]
