Garden centre owner jailed for growing cannabis

A garden centre owner has been jailed after police found enough cannabis growing at his Somerset nursery to make 60,000 joints.

A British garden centre owner has been jailed after police found enough cannabis growing at his Somerset nursery to make 60,000 joints.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Terry Moore was anxiously waiting to find out whether his smallholding has been hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis, after one of his neighbours' farms was found to be infected.

Moore was jailed for six months after the court was told how 116 cannabis plants were found in greenhouses at Terry's Nursery, in the village of Blakeway, near Wedmore, last year.

Mark Hollier, defending, said Moore, 49, did not know at first what the plants were and what they were for.

He said he had agreed to let two men use his premises for a fee of £400.

But Mr Hollier said Moore admitted he eventually found out the plants were cannabis, although he had never received his cash.

Mr Hollier said: "He was motivated by greed.

"This was not a conspiracy to produce cannabis but having discovered what the plants were, he willingly lent himself to the transaction."

Mr Hollier said Moore was going through a worrying period waiting for news of whether his 12 cows would be affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak next to his premises.

Moore pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to a charge under the Misuse of Drugs Act of cultivating cannabis.

Sentencing him Judge Peter Thomas said: "You may not have known what you were doing at the start of this but you most certainly did by the end. People who do transactions such as this must go to prison."