Cannabis grower nearly burns down his own house

A man who grew cannabis in the loft of his Norwich home to ease his stress ended up nearly burning his house down, a court heard.

CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM
05 November 2009 10:00



A man who grew cannabis in the loft of his Norwich home to ease his stress ended up nearly burning his house down, a court heard.

Paul Knights, phoned firefighters to tell them there was a blaze at his address in Churchill Road and when they attended they found the charred remains of cannabis plants in his loft.

Police were called and estimated that about 36 plants had been growing in the loft.

However Chris Youell, prosecuting, at Norwich Crown Court, said that Knights, 43, claimed that he had also been growing tomatoes and peppers in his loft.

Mr Youell said that an investigation showed that the fire was started either by Knights using a wrong fuse for the growing and lighting system for the cannabis, or by placing the heater too close to the equipment.

Knights admitted producing cannabis and was jailed for nine months, suspended for a year. He was also ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work and pay persecution costs of £700.

Judge Paul Downes told him he accepted the cannabis had been for Knights' own personal use and not for any commercial supply, but said: “Producing cannabis in whatever quantity is something that has to be discouraged by the court and is discouraged by the court.”

However, he accepted that Knights was a hardworking man who at the time was having various difficulties in his life.

Guy Ayers, mitigating, said that Knights was under stress at the time, trying to arrange visitation rights over his child, when he heard that cannabis was good to help you relax.

He said that Knights was not very good at growing the cannabis and said: “He nearly burned down his house.”

He said that Knights no longer smoked cannabis and had found other ways to deal with stress.

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