Police raided a converted office block on Glasgow Road in Paisley at about 11.30am on Tuesday 23 January 2018 and found more than 700 cannabis plants.[1] Officers put the crop’s estimated street value at £450,000 and arrested two women aged 53 and 55 and a 36-year-old man, who were released on an undertaking to attend court.[1] CCTV from a nearby Pizza Hut branch and the Lagoon Leisure Centre then linked four other men to the site, showing them entering and leaving.[2] The four had been watched by police in January 2018, and when officers entered, an immediate stench of cannabis led them to 718 plants growing across 13 rooms on three floors.[2] The setup was sophisticated, with fans, ducting, lighting, extra power sockets and reflective panels over the windows, and police believed it cost £50,000 to build.[2] In June 2019 the four admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis.[2] On 3 September 2019 the High Court in Glasgow jailed Brian Scally, 37, and Ian Matthews, 37, for four years each and David Kerr, 30, and James Robertson, 39, for five years each, 18 years in total.[2] The court heard Scally treated the work like a job, Matthews acted as electrician, Kerr as joiner and Robertson, a landscape gardener, tended the plants.[2]
Four jailed for 18 years over Paisley office-block cannabis farm
Four men were jailed for a total of 18 years at the High Court in Glasgow on 3 September 2019 for running a 718-plant cannabis factory across 13 rooms of a converted Paisley office block. Police found the £430,800 crop in January 2018 after CCTV from a nearby Pizza Hut linked the gang to the site.
🇬🇧 Glasgow Road, Paisley, Renfrewshire · United Kingdom
- Sentenced
- 4
- of them seized
- 718
- Agency
- Police Scotland
- Cannabis
- Living plants
- Case stage
- Sentenced
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
- Sentenced
- 4
- of them seized
- 718
- Value (official estimate)
- GBP 430,800
- Agency
- Police Scotland
- Agency type
- Police, Court
- Cannabis
- Living plants (718 plants)
- Activity
- Cultivation
- Setting
- Other building
- Grown
- Indoor
- Charge
- being concerned in the supply of cannabis
- Case stage
- Sentenced
- Sentence
- Prison
- Region
- Renfrewshire
Sources
- Capital Scotlandcapitalfm.comArrests after £450,000 of drugs seized
- The Gazettethe-gazette.co.ukArchived copyPopping out for Pizza Hut proved to be costly mistake for Renfrewshire drugs gang
Open questions the AI reported
- The raid was first reported as more than 700 plants worth £450,000; the report uses the later court figures of 718 plants worth £430,800.
- The outcomes for the two women and the man arrested during the January 2018 raid were not reported.
- A later report that a fifth man, Darren Chalmers, was caught in December 2019 is a separate development left out here.

