Judge tells third-strike Kirkby cannabis gardener to 'grow up'

Police were called to Malcolm Parker's home on October 23, 2019 following reports of a domestic incident – only to find 18 ‘healthy’ plants, prosecutor Dawn Pritchard said.

In total they found between half and one and a half kilos of the drug, which could have fetched as much as £11,000.

She said he grew the drug because of ‘chronic pain’ caused by a foot injury sustained while he was in the Army, and he was waiting for it to be amputated.

Parker also admitted supplying any surplus cannabis to one other contact, in quantities measured by the ounce.

Ms Pritchard said Parker admitted to smoking one gram of cannabis per day, but ‘what he was producing would have lasted him for hundreds of days’.

She told Nottingham Crown Court that he has two previous convictions for identical offences, from 2011 and 2015, and he received community orders on both occasions.

Parker, 55, of Larkfield Avenue, pleaded guilty to cannabis production on March 31.

On Friday, Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told him: "Grow up and stop it for heaven's sake. You're 55 - not a 20-year-old boy.

"I appreciate cannabis perhaps gives you some relief but persisting in growing it is going to get you in serious trouble."

He imposed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a 12-month community order and six rehabilitation days.

"Think very carefully before you do this again," he said. "Enough. Go away. Do not come back."

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