Tenant’s kitchen fire led police to £53k cannabis factory haul
A MAN who had converted the loft of his house into a sophisticated cannabis factory was caught after he accidentally started a fire in his kitchen.
Gavin Mcknight had fled the property by the time police and firefighters responded to 999 calls from concerned neighbours. When officers entered the charred property they found they were dealing with more than just a house fire as inside there were more than 160 plants, growing equipment, and a large quantity of already-harvested cannabis.
The total value of the plants and already-harvested crop at the property was put at more than £53,000 though Mcknight initially claimed all the drugs in the house were for his own use.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on the evening of December 16 last year the emergency services responded to calls from people living in Gethin Close in Gendros reporting a fire. The blaze was put out but not before the semidetached rental house was “significantly damaged”. The tenant of the property, 41-year-old Mcknight, was nowhere to be seen.
The court heard that inside the house officers found a cannabisgrowing facility on the first floor and in the attic which included a large number of cannabis plants, growing tents, reflection lamps, electric fans, and extractor fans and ducting.
The attic had been converted to grow cannabis. The floor had been boarded and the inside of the roof covered with heavy-duty plastic sheeting. There were 35 plants growing in individual pots along with trays containing seedlings and juvenile cuttings.
Mr Pulling said in total there were 161 plants of various levels of maturity as well as a large quantity of the already-harvested drug. There was more than 1.5kg of cannabis bud in storage nets hanging from the ceiling and almost half a kilo of cannabis leaf in trays. The prosecutor said some of the plants had been damaged – presumably in the fire – so it was hard to put a precise figure on the total value at the house but police estimated it to be worth upwards of £53,600.
The defendant was tracked down to his father’s house in Dunvant. He was arrested there at 8pm and a mobile phone was seized. In interview Mcknight admitted growing the cannabis but claimed it was all for his own personal use and that he had never sold any of it.
The court heard he was released under investigation in relation to both the drugs and the cause of the fire. When police examined his phone they found numerous texts relating to the supply of cannabis as well as discussions with contacts about the manufacture of cannabis oil.
Mr Pulling said the cause of the fire was later attributed to overloaded power sockets in the kitchen of the Gethin Close property or to the improper use of a portable gas stove. No charges were laid in relation to the blaze.
Mcknight, of Gethin Close, Gendros, Swansea, admitted production of cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He has previous convictions for 26 offences including the production of cannabis, which had seen him running a cannabis-growing operation at the rented house in Manselton where he was living.
Huw Davies, for Mcknight, said a pre-sentence report had identified the defendant’s health problems along with his issues of alcohol and cocaine abuse.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Mcknight was sentenced to two years and four months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.