Cannabis gardener will repay just £90
A man who looked after his sister's cannabis factory will repay just £90 from the criminal operation that had the potential to yield £145,000 per year.
Keith Taylor, 50, acted as gardener for the illegal activity at Catstree Farm in Worfield near Bridgnorth and was jailed in May last year.
A proceeds of crime hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court was told that of the £10,090 benefit to the court that could be realised from the operation only £90 was available from Taylor.
Judge Jim Tindall said: "I'm well aware that sums go up and down in cases like this, but it is troubling that this figure has gone down so low."
He also made a forfeiture and destruction order for the plants and equipment.
Taylor and his sister Angela Bates, who lived at the farm, were both jailed last year after the cannabis farm came to light. It was discovered after Taylor got stopped by police on the A454 at Rudge Heath in January 2015. The vehicle smelled of cannabis and checks uncovered a small quantity in the car, along with gloves with cannabis residue on them.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology showed that he made almost 200 journeys in both directions along the A454 between Bridgnorth near where the Bates family lived, and Wolverhampton between June 2013 and January 2014.
The 72 plants were found in an outbuilding, with electricity being diverted from the meter to power it, yielding a potential gain of up to £145,000 every year.
Angela Bates, 45, who was unable to account for cash deposits totalling nearly £60,000 between April 2013 and January 2014, was jailed for four years for conspiring to produce cannabis, abstracting electricity and money laundering.
While Taylor, of St Chad’s Road in Bilston, West Midlands, was jailed for 18 months after admitting conspiring to produce cannabis and abstracting electricity.
Bates' husband Simon received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months after admitting allowing premises to be used for the production of cannabis.
