A 68-YEAR-old Droitwich widower caught growing cannabis in a garden shed has been given a suspended jail sentence at Worcester Crown Court.

Neil Greenlees lived in Newmill bungalow, Ladywood, in a rural part of Droitwich, said Andrew Wilkins, prosecuting.

Police who called in December last year found three outhouses, one of which had been insulated and fitted with hydroponic equipment. There were 12 plants in various stages of cultivation.

Mr Wilkins said it had been estimated they could be worth up to £10,000 depending upon their maturity.

Greenlees, who pleaded guilty to producing a class B drug, was jailed for four months, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work and pay £340 court costs.

Judith Kenney, mitigating, said Greenlees was growing the plants to help the medical condition of his son, who was disabled and in a wheelchair. He was the sole carer and he also had a daughter who was suffering from a similar medical condition.

He had been fully co-operative with police and had been naive in his attempts to grow the cannabis.