4,000-plant Ramsgate warehouse was UK's biggest cannabis factory, police said
Stephen Rochester, 60, was jailed for four years and nine months at Canterbury Crown Court for growing more than 4,000 cannabis plants in a 20,000 sq ft Ramsgate warehouse raided in May 2006. Police called it the biggest cannabis factory find in the South East and possibly the country.
Stephen Rochester, 60, of Cliffsend Grove, Ramsgate, admitted cultivating cannabis and was jailed for four years and nine months at Canterbury Crown Court.[1]He had grown more than 4,000 plants in a 20,000 square-foot warehouse on an industrial estate in Ramsgate, which police gave a street value of between 1.9 million and 2.5 million pounds.[1]
The factory was raided on 8 May 2006.[1]A second man, 40-year-old Dennis Murphy of Frazier Street in south London, also admitted cultivating cannabis and received a nine-month suspended sentence with 120 hours of community service.[1]
Detective Chief Inspector Rob Vinson of Kent Police called the seizure the biggest cannabis factory find in the South East and possibly the country, saying its discovery had made a major dent in the drugs supply in Thanet and possibly the wider South East.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Only the 24dash account of the sentencing could be opened; a second outlet carried the same police account that day but its page could not be opened, so this report rests on one opened source.
The report dates the raid to "May 8 last year"; 8 May 2006 is derived from the May 2007 publication date.
No verifiable photograph of the warehouse or the seized plants could be recovered, so this report has no pictures.
Callum Roper, 22, of Holton Road, Barry, was jailed for 30 months at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting offences involving the supply of cannabis and magic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between 3 December 2025 and 14 September 2026 and had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Bolton Crown Court sentenced seven members of three linked drug gangs that trafficked cocaine and cannabis between Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales. Five men received prison sentences of up to eleven and a half years, while two couriers received community orders and two leaders await later sentencing.
Daniel Thompson, 36, was found with 8,223.6 grams of cannabis resin, valued at up to £35,950, when officers searched a house on Moss Side Lane in Rixton in July 2023. Chester Crown Court gave him a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work after he admitted possessing the resin with intent to supply and possessing cocaine.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 8.2236 kgPrison 9 months suspended for 12 months
Bradford Crown Court jailed Alfie Leahy, 21, for five years and Connor Broadbent, 26, for three years and four months over drugs found when police raided two homes in the Holmewood area at dawn on 17 July 2026. Cannabis was seized at a Grayswood Crescent address and cocaine, cash and jewellery at Dawson Street; police put the total street value of the drugs at more than £22,000.
Charged 2Prison 5 years (Leahy); 3 years and 4 months (Broadbent)
