The £2m luxury cannabis farm
Jail warning for businesswoman who financed drug operation at six-bedroom country pile
A BUSINESSWOMAN is facing jail after financing a cannabis factory in a six-bedroom, £2million farmhouse.
Lisa Scotney, 54, paid £73,000 to associate Shaun Wilkinson, 49, to help set up the operation and rent the exclusive property.
Set in 11 acres of rolling countryside, the 6,000 sq ft farmhouse has a gym, an indoor swimming pool and a four-car garage.
With the help of cannabis ‘expert’ Edward Ambrozewicz, 55, plants were grown in the kitchen, bedrooms, gym and garage. A bathroom was used to store chemicals. Police raided the property in March 2017, forcing their way in through its electronic gates, and found dozens of plants in various stages of growth.
The haul would have been worth around £33,000, with further crops on the way, Warwick Crown Court was told.
The trio pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce cannabis. They were granted bail but were warned by Judge Sylvia de Bertodano that they face lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced next month.
Scotney, who lives in a £400,000 detached home in Walsall, was previously a director of two companies. Her occupation was listed as TV hire contractor. She is believed to be single and to live alone.
Prosecutor Tariq Shakoor told the court that the farmhouse in the vil- lage of Hockley Heath, near Solihull, West Midlands, was put up for sale in 2016 but in the meantime was being let by Select Lettings.
It is described as an ‘outstanding country residence set within extensive landscaped gardens and grounds’. It also boasts an open plan kitchen and laundry room, as well as a ‘ wing’ containing the sixth bedroom and an en suite bathroom.
Wilkinson contacted the letting agents in July 2016 and expressed an interest in renting it. Two viewings were arranged, and on the second occasion he was accompanied by a woman who matched the description of Scotney, the court heard.
She asked for the price to be dropped and a rent of £3,750 a month was agreed. A deposit of £4,250 was also paid.
Mr Shakoor said: ‘From that date, or very soon after, the production of cannabis was taking place. Texts showed it was already being grown in October 2016.’
Wilkinson was living there. ‘ It seems Lisa Scotney was spending quite a bit of time there, and Ambrozewicz, someone who is experienced in growing cannabis, was visiting regularly,’ he added.
When police raided the farmhouse in March 2017, all three defendants were inside. Officers found growing tents containing 40 plants in the garage as well as heating and lighting equipment and bags of fertiliser.
There were 11 plants in the gym and another 30 in a bedroom in an annex. In the kitchen there were five plants, as well as cannabis waste
‘It must have reeked of cannabis’
from previous harvests and a shredding machine.
At Scotney’s home, police found a list of items needed to grow cannabis. They also discovered that ‘significant sums of money’ were passing from her account.
Mr Shakoor said Scotney financed the cannabis operation to the tune of £73,000 and played a significant part in organising it.
Wilkinson, of Snow Hill, Birmingham, had received £73,135 from Scotney, which although not necessarily all relating to drugs, included £3,750 a month for the rent which he then paid to the rental agency, the court heard. Ambrozewicz, of Willenhall, West Midlands, had received £16,911 from her.
Nick Devine, for Scotney, said: ‘She is a financier. There’s no dispute she puts the money up for this enterprise.’
Wilkinson entered his plea on the basis that he took no part in actually growing the plants. But Mr Shakoor said there was evidence that as well as taking out the lease on the farmhouse, he had been involved in looking after the crop.
The judge rejected a suggestion that the farmhouse had been rented for a legitimate use as an Airbnb property because ‘the whole place must have reeked of cannabis’.