POLICE who raided a Redditch house “nipped in the bud” a cannabis growing operation that had the potential to produce drugs worth more than £17,000, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The two men who lived at the house in Drayton Close – Leigh Ryan and Robbie Morton – were between them growing 277 plants, at various stages of development, in their bedrooms.

Also staying at the house at the time was Paul Hodge, who was not involved in the growing operation but admitted having 375g of skunk cannabis with a street value of between £2,080 and £3,120.

Ryan, aged 33, now of Mount Pleasant, Redditch, and Morton, 29, still of Drayton Close, admitted producing cannabis and both were given an 18 months jail sentence suspended for 18 months.

They were also each ordered to do 250 hours unpaid work in the community and to pay £670 court costs.

Hodge, aged 29, of Astley Close, Redditch, admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply it and was put under supervision of the probation service for a year and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work in the community.

Simon Hunka, prosecuting, said police went to the house in Drayton Close at 11.20am on March 4 last year, where Ryan and Morton were joint tenants and Hodge was sleeping on the sofa.

They found skunk cannabis in a box in the kitchen, £500 cash, some scales and tobacco and Hodge later went to the police station to say those drugs belonged to him.

Upstairs, in Ryan’s room, officers found four plants in a cupboard, which were four to six weeks from maturing and which could have an estimated yield worth £1,800.

In a black tent running alongside Ryan’s bed they found nine more plants grown from cuttings, which were about 10 weeks from fully flowering and which could have produced a yield estimated at £4,050.

There was a time switch on the cupboard for a light and ventilation system.

In Morton’s bedroom they found 264 cannabis plants at various stages of development and that seemed to have been the “nursery” for production, added Mr Hunka.

If all those 264 plants, which were in “ice cube sized compartments”, had produced, the yield was estimated at £11,700, making a total potential value for drugs being grown in the house of £17,550.

Morton, who works for an engineering company, and Ryan, who is employed as a team leader, told police they were simply growing the drugs for their own use and they said the scales in the house were for use among friends.

Mr Hunka said the prosecution conceded that not all of the plants would have grown to maturity and that, if it was intended as a commercial operation, more room would have been needed for the plants.

Charles Hamer, for Morton, said none of the usual “hallmarks” of a commercial operation – dealer lists, bank transactions, telephone “traffic” or bypassing of the electricity meter – was found.

“Whatever might have happened it was nipped in the bud,” he added.

Judge Robert Juckes (correct) QC told Morton and Ryan it had been a “highly sophisticated” operation.

“It had the potential to realise very large quantities of drugs,” added the judge.

And he warned them that, if they continued in their habitual use of cannabis and came back to court they would go to jail.