A father-of-four who turned his family home into a vast and professional cannabis farm is facing four years in prison.
After purchasing a book on “growing marijuana”, Derek Adam began producing the class B drug on “a commercial scale”.
More than 150 plants were discovered within his council home in Dundee’s Alloway Terrace when it was raided by police officers.
The loft had been transformed into a sophisticated growing area, while cupboards had been converted to allow easy access to the upstairs growing area.
He had kitted the loft out with high value equipment, including lights, extractors and a top-of-the-range heating system.
Many of the plants were still young when police officers swooped, but the city’s sheriff court was told they could have had an illicit value of more than £24,000 when fully grown.
The officers also executed a search warrant at a second council-owned house in Alloway Terrace – at which his wife Angela Thomson was the main resident.
They discovered that it had also been converted for use as a cannabis farm – with the set-up mirroring that found at his own home – though the raid took place before growing could begin.
Depute Fiscal Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The house was found to contain a vast established area for cultivating cannabis.”
Solicitor Ian Houston told the court that his client had custody of four children from a previous marriage and was a good father, adding that the eldest was excelling in his studies.
Sheriff Alastair Brown, however, broke in to say: “But he was a commercial cannabis cultivation that attracts a starting point of four years in prison!”
The solicitor questioned whether it should be considered commercial as there was “high wastage” and even appeared to suggest that it could be for personal use as his client suffered from sciatica.
The incredulous sheriff, however, continued: “By my recollection, commercial is considered more than nine plants in English law. This man had 154 plants!”
Next to Adam in the dock was his step-son Jake Thomson, who pled guilty to supplying cocaine from his mother’s home.
During a raid on the same day, they recovered quantities of the class A drug worth up to £2,000, together with scales dotted with white powder and other paraphernalia.
They also recovered a mobile telephone which included numerous details of people asking for drugs and receiving replies in which the 27-year-old Thomson stated his price.
Though his solicitor argued that he had no previous criminal record, Thomson was warned that the starting point for sentencing was likely to be three years behind bars.
Adam, 43, admitted producing cannabis at an address in Alloway Terrace between May 5, 2013 and August 9, 2014.
Thomson, now of Clepington Road in Dundee, pled guilty to a charge of being concerned in the supply of the class A drug cocaine at a separate address in Alloway Terrace between the same dates.
Sentence on both men was deferred until June 30, but Sheriff Brown denied them bail and ordered that they be remanded in custody to await their fate.
He said: “In the one case there is a very deliberate cultivation of a very substantial amount of cannabis, which it is difficult not to consider commercial.
“In the other, there is supply of a class A drug.
“Both offences are likely to attract a significant custodial sentence.”
