A MAN who grew cannabis at his home to help as a pain relief for a serious health issue has been spared jail.

Police raided an address on Maescader in Pencader at around 5.45pm on April 27, 2022. Inside, they found 13 cannabis plants growing in one room, with a fourteenth plant growing in a separate room, prosecutor Harry Dickens said.

The officers found lights, fertiliser, flowerpots and fans, and also discovered the electricity at the address had been bypassed.

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Whilst the police were at the address, Paul Newport arrived home. He admitted the drugs and equipment was his.

Newport was arrested, and told the officers in his interview that “it was all for personal use” as he used the cannabis as a pain relief for a serious health issue.

Mr Dickens said it was not the prosecution’s case that Newport was growing the drugs for anything more than his own personal use.

The defendant, who has six previous convictions for 13 offences – although none since 2002, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis, production of cannabis, and abstracting electricity without authority.

Judge Geraint Walters indicated that although the threshold for a prison sentence had been passed, Newport would not be receiving an immediate term of imprisonment.

“I don’t think I can add anything positive to that,” Stuart John said, in mitigation.

Mr John said that Newport, 50, had pleaded guilty to the offences at the earliest opportunity, and reiterated that he was only growing the cannabis “for his own use”.

“You have a serious physical condition which is alleviated by the use of cannabis,” Judge Walters said, adding that he felt sympathy for the position Newport found himself in.

“But I’m afraid the law does not feel that,” he added.

He sentenced Newport to six months for cannabis cultivation, with two-month sentences for the remaining charges. These will all run concurrently, and were suspended for two years.

Newport must complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and must pay a £156 surcharge.