Two sent to prison after police raid makes discovery in Nottingham haunted museum

Nicolae Dumitru and David Moore were found inside the disused Haunted Museum in Mapperley when officers forced the door open on April 3 this year
-Credit: (Image: Nottinghamshire Police)


Police raided a derelict haunted museum in Nottingham and made a discovery that resulted in two men being put behind bars. Nicolae Dumitru and David Moore were found inside the disused Haunted Museum in Mapperley when officers forced the door open on April 3 this year.

Investigators had suspected the Woodthorpe Road museum, which shut in 2021, was being used as a cannabis farm. When officers smashed into the property they found rows of plants growing across three rooms within the property – with 284 eventually counted and dismantled.

Two further empty rooms had also been prepared for new farms, while the electricity was also found to have been bypassed, Nottinghamshire Police said. Dumitru and Moore had been living at the closed museum, which had previously been the Majestic Cinema.

The Haunted Museum in Woodborough Road, Mapperley, in 2020 -Credit:Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post
The Haunted Museum in Woodborough Road, Mapperley, in 2020 -Credit:Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post

Having pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, Dumitru, 35, and Moore, 27, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday, September 16. The cannabis growers, both of no fixed address, were each imprisoned for 18 months. Following Dumitru and Moore’s sentencing, the officer in the case was keen to stress the teamwork that had contributed to shutting down the cannabis farm.

PC Tom Griffiths, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Specialist officers from the Tactical Support Group were essential in allowing us to gain entry to the premises on the day of the warrant, and key evidence was gathered by CSI and the Cannabis Dismantling Team. On top of that, further essential work was conducted by the Digital Forensic Unit, which helped to secure vital evidence held on electronic devices recovered from the premises needed to secure these convictions."