police raided Katie Armstrong’s Langley home they discovered 85 plants in her loft with a street value of £25,000.The 25-year-old said she did not cultivate the cannabis and was just a patsy for the dealers, who threatened to harm her family if she told police about the illegal farm.But Armstrong still pleaded guilty to production of the class C drug at Bolton Crown Court because she did not want to name the gang behind the scheme.Recorder Ashley Murray, sentencing her to a suspended jail term on Monday, said: "The cultivation of illegal drugs on this level is clearly a very serious matter. The drug has many long-term social and personal consequences. You claim to have been under some sort of pressure but you have not named the people who participated in that activity. Your actions were wholly unacceptable. I do accept that you had no previous understanding of drugs and you acted with the influence of others who cultivated these plants. You are the very type of patsy that people of this nature are looking for."
The court heard how police found the drugs haul at Armstrong’s Carrock Walk home in October last year.Further investigations uncovered that upto £3,500 of electricity had been illegally diverted to the property to power hydroponic equipment used to grow the cannabis.Rachel Widdicombe, defending, said Armstrong - a single mum who cares for her mentally-ill mother - was relieved when officers arrived because she could finally speak up.Miss Widdicombe said: "Threats of violence were made against her and her family. She was told that the police may be able to protect her but they wouldn’t be able to protect her mother, father and family. She felt (going along with) it was the only way she could protect her family but accepts now that she could have gone to the police."Armstrong – who has no previous convictions - was sentenced to six months in jail suspended for 18 months. She has to complete 100 hours unpaid work and pay £100 costs. She also risks losing her housing association home in a repossession hearing later in the year
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