Yahoo News Cannabis producer caught with £40k of drugs spared jail as 'prisons are full'
A judge at Hull Crown Court told cannabis grower Michal Drastich that had his case come to court earlier he would have been jailed.
A drug dealer caught with more than £42,000 of cannabis has been spared jailed partly because "prisons are full".
Judge John Thackray KC told Michal Drastich that had his case come to court earlier he would have been handed a custodial sentence.
Drastich had set up cannabis growing operations at his home and a separate rented house where officers found drugs, growing equipment, mobile phones, and cash during a co-ordinated raid.
The 39-year-old, of Hailsham Street, west Hull, admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply, producing cannabis and acquiring cash as criminal property on 4 June, 2021.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, prosecuting, said that police went to Drastich's home to execute a search warrant at 7.55am. His partner and a three-year-old child were there.
Another search warrant was executed at the other property that had been rented by Drastich for around a year and the property had to be made safe by Northern Power Grid because the electricity system had been bypassed.
The cannabis growing included one lot of 30 plants and another of 15 plants. Cash hauls involved included £400 and £165.
The potential estimated street value of the cannabis found at Drastich's home was between £17,895 and £28,770. The potential yield of the cannabis at the rented house was between £8,700 and £13,920.
Upon arrest, Drastich told police: "I don't smoke weed – maybe once a year."
Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that Drastich, from the Czech Republic, had kept out of trouble since the incidents. He had been working and was "sober" and giving negative alcohol tests, she said, and had no significant previous convictions.
Judge Thackray said that there had been a long delay in finally bringing the matter before the court and this was now a factor to be taken into account when sentencing. He said if the matter had come to court promptly, Drastich would probably have been jailed.
He said the problem of overcrowding in prisons was now a significant factor for the courts and could be taken into account if offences were non-violent and non-sexual and it was borderline whether a suspended prison sentence could be imposed.
"I have got to take into account the fact that the prisons are full," said Judge Thackray. "He can be punished in the community."
Drastich was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 200 hours' unpaid work, a six-month 10pm to 6am curfew and 15 days' rehabilitation.
