Dad-of-four risked fire in family home by setting up £100,000 cannabis farm Private-Hire driver jailed for endangering lives of his children
A dad-of-four risked starting a fire in the home he shared with his children by setting up a £100,000 cannabis farm.
Private Hire driver Iain Fell, 49, sobbed in court as a judge said he endangered the lives of his two daughters, aged six and seven, and two adult sons.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the electricity meter at his house in Belgrave Street, Wallasey was bridged and a dangerous wire leading to the crop could have set the property ablaze.
Recorder Abigail Hudson today jailed Fell for 20 months after he admitted producing 128 cannabis plants to try and pay off a £20,000 debt to loan sharks.
The judge said: “This is aggravated very significantly in my judgement by the presence of your children in that house, particularly your very young daughters.
“They were both exposed to danger, not just to the risk of fire, but of dangerous criminals breaking in, in order to steal your crop.
“They were also exposed to the risk that they grow up with the assumption that cannabis use is normal, as opposed to the destructive force that we know it to be.”
Simon Duncan, prosecuting, said police raided Fell’s house at around 5.40pm on May 22 last year.
Officers found 23 mature plants in one bedroom, 16 mature plants in the master bedroom and 89 plants, some of which were dying, in the loft.
Fell returned home shortly afterwards with his daughters.
He told police he set up the farm because he was “20 grand in debt”, before adding: “I don’t even smoke it.”
Mr Duncan said Fell also admitted abstracting £3,290 of electricity to power lighting equipment within growing tents.
He said: “There was a wire leading upstairs, which according to the electrician who inspected it, posed a danger of fire and could have put lives in danger.”
Fell, who has no previous convictions, told police he set up the farm himself after being promised £18,000 in return for the cannabis.
Dad-of-four Iain Fell, of Belgrave Street in Wallasey, risked starting a fire in the home he shared with his children by setting up a £100,000 cannabis farm
John Ballam, defending, said his client had been suffering from mental health and severe financial problems, which drove him to commit the crime.
He said it was a “very sad case” and that Fell was a “hard-working bloke”, struggling with depression after the break-up of his marriage, whose two daughters were now no longer living with him because of these offences.
Mr Ballam said: “The defendant says those bedrooms were locked and there was no access to the loft to the children.”
He said Fell, who volunteers as a minister and a healer at a local church, twice refused the offer of setting up a cannabis farm to pay off loan sharks, but “got so desperate” that he finally agreed.
Mr Ballam said: “He acknowledges it was a most foolish and stupid thing to do and it was totally illegal.”
He added that his client was likely to lose his job as a private hire driver if sent to prison and urged the judge to impose a suspended sentence.
Recorder Hudson accepted he was a “devoted family man” who loved his children and had been struggling financially.
But she said this was more than just a “silly mistake” and a decision that could have led to “loss of life” in his home.
The judge said: “I accept those rooms were locked but those children must have been aware that something was happening.”
source:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... y-10980741
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