He was once one of Perth’s most respected businessmen, but Jordan McDonald faces career ruin because of his life-long cannabis addiction.
The 30-year-old earned £85,000 a year working for one of the city’s biggest estate agents, the family-owned Next Home, but was jailed for 27 months after being convicted of producing the drug.
He saw himself as a pillar of the Strathallan community, but his fall from grace was sealed when police officers swooped on a secluded cottage near Almondbank in October 2013.
There, shielded from prying eyes by thick woodland and a high fence, he had bankrolled the beginnings of a sizeable cannabis farm with 49-year-old acquaintance Justin Hughes.
Retail assistant Hughes, from Cardenden in Fife, was jailed for 22 months for his part in the cannabis farm, which was described as a “professional” cultivation as the men were sentenced at Perth.
The court heard the pair had started the illegal endeavour together in a bid to feed the habit that had blighted their lives since childhood.
Counsel for both men made efforts to spare them prison, but Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said there was no alternative.
“This was not some haphazard operation,” he told them. “It was well thought out and well planned. It was a thoroughly professional operation aimed at the production of cannabis.”
Despite the care the two men took to conceal their operation, Police Scotland received information about the property they’d chosen within weeks.
Officers arrived with a search warrant on the afternoon of October 14 last year and immediately had their suspicions confirmed by the strong smell of cannabis in the air.
Hughes was found alone in the property, along with 50 plants, located within three separate cultivations one within the house, another in a shed and a third in a garage.
All the paraphernalia and equipment associated with a well-organised cannabis farm was within, including plastic sheeting, heat lamps and a complicated lighting and ventilation system.
So extensive and “detailed” was the cultivation that additional officers had to be called into investigate and catalogue everything found.
In all, there were 62 “useable” plants within the property, with an illicit value somewhere between £9,920 and £29,760, together with small quantities of herbal cannabis worth a few hundred pounds.
Advocate Ronnie Renucci, for McDonald, said his client had been forced to resign from his employment where he’d had hopes of partnership as a result of his arrest.
He had, however, found new employment helping young people into work a job with a £50,000 salary which may now be lost.
“Mr McDonald has a first class employment record and has long held down a well-paid and responsible position,” he said.
“For the past fifteen years, however, he has also battled a cannabis addiction and at this time his drug use was escalating rapidly, playing a bigger and bigger part in his life.”
Mr Renucci said his client had rented the cottage as “a favour” to a friend, but that following discussions, they had decided to grow cannabis together.
He said the “stupid” decision, had been taken to feed their growing habits, to save money and to ensure that they did not have to associate with dealers.
Solicitor David Holmes, for Hughes, said his client had “reached the same point but by a different journey”.
He told the court his client had used cannabis since he was a teenager, having used it firstly to blot out family tragedy and, more recently, as pain medication.
“Mr McDonald was a mutual acquaintance and together they discussed their difficulties,” Mr Holmes said.
“They decided they didn’t want to be involved with those who sold drugs. They were also keen to reduce their costs, given their substantial use.”
Both men were said to have stopped taking drugs since their arrest, with Mr Renucci described his client’s challenge as “an ongoing battle, but one he is winning at present.”
McDonald, of Park Terrace, Aberuthven, and Hughes, of Glenniston Farm Cottages, Cardenden, admitted producing cannabis at The Lodge in West Cromwell Park, Almondbank between August 19 and October 14 last year.
Directors at Next Home declined to comment on McDonald’s conviction.