Chorley drug grower tells police he taught himself using You Tube videos

Alan Baxendale, 37, of Spendmore Lane, Coppull, Chorley, told officers he “smokes it all day every day” and had bypassed the electric meter to grow it.

Prosecuting, Tracy Yates said: “ Police attended Darlington Street in Coppull, where he then lived, to reports of a female screaming.

“Upon their attendance they found a small cannabis production set up in the kitchen. The defendant said it was a production for his own use.

“There were nine plants with a relatively unsophisticated set up. Police gave an estimated yield of 480 grams.

“The defendant, in interview, said he grew cannabis for himself. The house was a private tenancy in his girlfriend’s name but he said the landlord knew he lived there.

“He said he harvested his first grow at Christmas, smoked it over the year, and the new crops had been planted three weeks earlier.

“He said he watered them once a day and he learned how to grow it by watching You Tube videos.”

Baxendale has 32 convictions for 44 offences, including previous drug matters.

Greg Earnshaw, defending, said: “It was a small production for his own use, he said it’s all his and she knows nothing about it.

“He says he was depressed at the time as his mother had been very ill. A wound to her leg has become so bad it will eventually have to be amputated.”

Baxendale got a £120 fine, £85 costs and a £30 surcharge.

The bench ordered the plants, seedlings and any other equipment to be destroyed.

The chairman told him he had to “make a benefit claim or get a job” after being told he was relying on his poorly mother.

Usually the court can attach the fines to a benefits claim if a defendant has one, but if they don’t have a claim, they have to pay they full amount within 14 days or face bailiffs turning up at their doorstep for the outstanding costs.