A former soldier who converted his bedroom into a cannabis farm has been jailed for more than two years.
Ivor Devlin was also told to pay back more than £1,000 to his electricity supplier after bypassing the meter to heat and light the crop.
Perth Sheriff Court was told Devlin’s house in Paradise Place, Perth, was about to be raided when he locked himself in and pretended no one was at home.
When officers got a joiner to help them overcome the door they discovered he was inside with nine cannabis plants set up in his bedroom.
Depute fiscal John Malpass said: “There was no reply to repeated knocking at his door. However, someone could be heard within the building putting something behind the door and applying the security chain to effectively block entry.
“As the police needed to force entry they summoned a joiner. They traced the accused in the living room. The officers noted a cannabis cultivation in one room.
“The electricity meter appeared to have been bypassed to provide a constant supply to the cultivation. SSE confirmed the meter had been bypassed.”
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “He has never ever tried cannabis. He was not working at the time as he had suffered an injury to his back.
“Others suggested after he had been out of work for some time that if he were to grow cannabis he might be able to distribute it to friends.
“The outlay had been made but the cannabis had not been distributed so that resulted in a loss to him.”
The £1,115 cash found in his home has been given to SSE as compensation.
Sheriff Gillian Wade jailed Devlin, 46, for 26-and-a-half months after noting he had a previous conviction for dealing cocaine in 2011.
On that occasion he was caught with nearly £25,000 worth of the Class-A drug and admitted he had taken up dealing because “he didn’t have as much money as he would have liked”.
Devlin, who saw active service while serving with The Black Watch, was jailed then for 28 months after being caught with the drugs in his mother’s car.
Mr Holmes said the father-of-two was a “family man” who agreed to carry out a drugs run to make £500 to spend on his family.
Mr Holmes said: “He has nothing in the past in relation to drugs. He is a time-served bricklayer but was not always in employment and that got worse.
“He reached the stage where he didn’t have as much money as he would have liked. He was offered the opportunity to make money by delivering something which turned out to be this substance.
“He was promised £500 but received nothing for it. He accepts he was wholly responsible for getting involved. He was originally in the British Army, following a family tradition on his mother’s side.
“He served for five years and saw active service in Bosnia and was also in Northern Ireland.”
