POLICE found unmistakable evidence of cannabis growing when they raided a house in the village of Ombersley, near Worcester, a court was told.

Although there were no plants, there was fertiliser and heating lamps said Robert Duval, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Traces of the class B drug were found in most of the rooms in OIdfield Lane. It was estimated that it could have been sold for an excess of £4,000.

This was no trivial operation, Recorder Christopher Hotten QC, told 24-year-old Stephen Brookes, who pleaded guilty to producing the drug with intent to sell.

Brookes, now living in Holt Road, Studley, near Redditch, who was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months with a 30-day rehabilitation and activity requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs, a £900 court charge and a £100 surcharge with three months.

Mr Duval said when the house was searched on April 13, cash amounting to £3,115 was found in one of the rooms. There were also photographs of cannabis growing in process and a mobile phone containing evidence of trade in the drug.

When interviewed, Brookes provided a prepared statement that he was not involved in producing cannabis. He claimed that the money found in house was the proceeds of selling a car.

Mark Lister, mitigating, said Brookes suffered a severe head injuries in a road accident when he was 15, which made him unfit to work because of epilepsy. He received a payment of £1,500 a month from a trust fund.

The quantity of drug he produced was only enough to supply his needs to treat the effects of his head injury. The disability would mean that he would be struggling to cope with custody.

The recorder said the normal penalty for growing cannabis was a 12-month jail sentence but he realised the difficulty caused by the accident and was prepared to suspend concurrent jail sentences of eight months for a year.