Derbyshire cannabis farmer jailed for £53,000 grow after his furniture business failed

Two High Court bailiffs gained entry to a workshop on Forest Street, in Sutton-in-Ashfield on December 1, last year, after Simon King failed to pay his rent, said prosecutor Thomas Welshman.

They found a "significant" amount of cash, along with 63 plants in two growing areas, which, if sold wholesale, could fetch between £8,190 and £43,470. If broken down into individual street deals, the drugs could have yielded between £17,640 and £52,920.

He has four previous convictions for 17 offences and served part of a 76-month sentence for "conspiring to produce industrial quantities” of cannabis with two co-defendants, said Mr Welshman.

Last year King received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, after breaching notification requirements, and the current drugs offence puts him in breach of that order.

Darron Whitehead, mitigating, said King was released from prison in 2021 and was “plainly able to stay away from trouble for two years. There was a period of time when he did not engage in this type of offending.

"Upon his release from custody he began new work in a furniture business which went into debt. He was in arrears for his rent. To his disgrace he re-engaged in growing cannabis plants to cover his debts.”

King, aged 54, of Derby Road, Belper, admitted producing cannabis when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court. He was jailed for 34 months and will serve up to half of that time in custody.