Man avoids jail sentence after cannabis raid

POLICE found a £6,500 haul of cannabis after raiding a drugs den, a court heard.

Officers executed a warrant at a house on Edge End Road in Great Harwood in April last year where John Almond had been staying with his friend Andrew Entwistle.

Preston Crown Court heard how police found nearly 650g of cannabis in ‘various locations’ throughout the house, including the attic, worth £6,490.

David Birrell, prosecuting, told the court: “The drugs had been harvested already. There was some evidence of production and equipment typically used in cultivation around the property.

“The electricity meter had also been interfered with.”

Mr Birrell said officers also found three wraps of cocaine with a ‘high purity’ belonging to Entwistle inside a jacket pocket in a rear bedroom.

Almond, 32, of Peel Park Avenue, Accrington, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply and was given a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months with 140 hours’ unpaid work.

Entwistle, 34, of living at the property following the end of a long-term relationship.

The court heard how Almond spent time living at the house in Great Harwood, but was not a tenant, and also spent time at his parents’ address.

Mr King said: “After the break-up of his relationship he was residing there a good proportion of his time.

“He accepts and recognises that he did use that property for his own personal drug use and for some wider distribution.

“There was a relatively large quantity (of cannabis) store at that address.

“At the time he was a very heavy cannabis user and much of the wider distribution was to those known to him, a circle of individuals and those whom he considered to be friends. He is single now and had been in a long-term relationship. “It left him very upset.” Alex Leech, defending Entwistle, said he is ‘extremely unwell’ and deserved full credit for his early guilty plea.