Cannabis grower caught with £20,000 of cocaine has sentence cut
A cannabis farmer caught with drugs worth more than £45,000 has had his jail term cut on appeal by top judges.
Barry James Parkes, 35, was caught in a car with over £20,000 worth of cocaine and with cannabis plants worth £25,000 flourishing at his home.
Parkes, of Glanaber, Llanfyllin, was jailed for six years four months at Mold Crown Court in March.
He pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and was convicted of possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
Yesterday judges at London's Criminal Appeal Court reduced his sentence to five years.
Mrs Justice Thirlwall and Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing heard that Parkes was arrested last year when police stopped a car in which he and another man were travelling after they spotted 'a large white object' being thrown from the window of the vehicle.
The 'object' was a package containing 263 grams of cocaine, estimated to be worth £21,000 on the street.
A raid on Parkes' home revealed he was growing 30 cannabis plants.
Lawyers for Parkes argued his sentence was far too tough and ought to be cut.
Mrs Justice Thirlwall agreed that the sentence imposed was 'inconsistent' with remarks earlier made by the trial judge.
She concluded: "We have considered the principle of totality and, for all of this offending, the total appropriate sentence is one of five years' imprisonment."
