CANNABIS farms pose a fire risk and may result in fatal electric shocks say fire chiefs after police raided a grow at a Worcester tanning salon.

The dangers of cannabis farms, in particular where the electricity supply has been bypassed, were highlighted by a Worcester judge earlier this month when he sentenced a man shot in the leg by police in the city.

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Aaron Humphries had also set up a grow in his ex-partner's tanning salon in Dines Green, Worcester, bypassing the electricity supply. Firefighters from the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service have tackled 19 blazes caused by cannabis grows in the last decade and are warning of the dangers.

As previously reported, Humphries, 31, of Wetherfield Road, Birmingham was spared an immediate jail sentence after he armed himself with an imitation submachine gun, caused criminal damage to his partner's address and set up a cannabis grow in her tanning salon without her knowledge during lockdown.

Humphries (also sometimes spelt Humphreys), appeared over videolink from HMP Hewell following the dramatic incident when he was shot in the leg by an armed officer at around 9am at Ronkswood Hill on October 2 last year.

Humphries was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years and placed under the supervision of the probation service. He must complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and was also ordered to pay £1,400 in compensation to Platform Housing for the damage.

Judge Martin Jackson, who sentenced him, spoke of the risks associated with bypassing the electric meter, as Humphries did, during the illegal grow when 33 plants were found at the property - the Tanning Lounge in Gresham Road, Dines Green. A police warrant was executed there on April 27 last year.

Judge Jackson said: "That inevitably creates risk to other people because there is always the possibility that homemade electric meter bypasses go wrong and fires can start and therefore premises can be destroyed."

For the period from January 1, 2012 to January 11, 2022, Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service attended 19 fires associated with cannabis farms. The service attended a further four fires which were classified as ‘tampered electric supply’.

“By bypassing the meter, any electrical switches or appliances could become 'live' which can increase the risk of shock and fire in other areas of the premises,” said Group Commander Amy Bailey of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

“Any electrical modifications are likely to be dangerous and there have been many fires and fatal electric shocks that have been caused this way,” he added.