Tree surgeon tried to flee country after £48,000 cannabis farm found in Jacksdale

Luke Nixon contacted the woman through a friend and arranged to move into the property on Franklin Road, after the former tenant died, in April 2019, said prosecutor Lisa Hardy.

He told her he found it hard to rent properties because he had been in prison, and she sympathised, even though he was usually late with the £525 monthly rent.

But after the landlord overheard a conversation about Nixon in a pub, where people said he was living in Awsworth, she became suspicious.

She began driving past the house, and, when Nixon was on holiday in Egypt, in February 2020, tried to let herself in, but found he’d changed the locks.

Once inside, she discovered the house, which had been "immaculately-kept," had been converted into a cannabis farm. Doors had been replaced with plastic curtains, electricity had been abstracted and a purpose-built nursery had been built in the loft. In total, 77 plants were recovered with an estimated value of £12,000 to £48,000.

Nixon was arrested at Dover Docks on February 29, where he told officers he was en route to a training event in Germany. His phone was seized along with non-prescription bottles of testosterone.

The landlord was left with a bill for £7,852 in damage and lost rents.

Nixon has three previous convictions for five offences over 14 years, and was jailed for 28 months, in January 2017, for supplying the Class B drug mephedrone.

Richard Gibbs, mitigating, said Nixon was "particularly apologetic to the owner of the property."

"His involvement was linked to his previous drug use and a debt incurred by it,” he said. “"He is terrified of custody.”

He said Nixon, a tree surgeon who employs six people, “felt under a degree of pressure because of the debt he owed”.

“He knows his liberty is at stake,” Mr Gibbs said. “He is a man who has turned a corner. He is now a responsible individual.”

Nixon, 33, whose address was given as the Manor House, Ilkeston, pleaded guilty to production of cannabis, on June 3.

On Wednesday, Judge Mark Watson sentenced him to two years and three months in prison.

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