Horticultural firm manager used his expertise to grow cannabis

But after convincing a judge that his latest crop - which would have produced more than 1.8 kilos of the drug - was all for his own use, Matthew Shell escaped being jailed.

Shell, aged 44, of Cobden Avenue, Leamington, who worked for hydroponics firm GroWell, based in the Wedgnock area of Warwick at the time, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis. He was given a community sentence with 12 months supervision and ordered to take part in a drug rehabilitation programme for three months.

Alex Warren, prosecuting at Warwick Crown Court, said that in October last year police went to Shell’s home and in the living room found a bucket containing dried cannabis while in an upstairs bedroom was a tent in which 32 plants were being grown hydroponically. Seven smaller plants were found in a cupboard and another nine plants were being grown in the garage.

The whole crop would have been worth some £10,000 in individual street deals. But Shell insisted that he had been an habitual cannabis user for 20 years and got through three to five grams a day - cooking with it as well as smoking it.

Asked by Nick Devine, defending, if he had ever sold the cannabis, Shell replied: “No, I had plenty of money. I had a good job. I wouldn’t have wanted to put that at risk.

He no longer worked for the firm as a result of the case but GroWell’s policy had been to turn away customers who wanted to grow cannabis.

Shell bought ex-display equipment to grow the drug because he felt it helped his asthma, offered escape and he was scared of buying it out on the streets.