Landlord Charged with Producing Cannabis - Not Guilty

Case study summary

Our client was a 70-year-old landlord who was charged with producing and possessing cannabis after one of his rental properties was used as a cannabis farm on two occasions. He denied any involvement. We prepared the case thoroughly and our client was found Not Guilty.

Case study

Our client was a 70-year-old landlord. He contacted us because he had been charged with the production and possession of cannabis. These were serious offences which would have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence if he had been found guilty. Our client explained that he had health problems and his partner was also house bound. He provided daily care for her and the thought of being wrongly convicted and leaving his partner alone was distressing for him.

The prosecution said that our client had allowed one of his rental properties to be used as a cannabis farm on two occasions with the first occasion being in October 2021. He was arrested at the time but the case against him was dropped due to a lack of evidence. In May 2022, a cannabis farm was located at the same property and our client was arrested again. This time he was charged.

Our client confirmed that he did not have any knowledge of the cannabis farm. After the first farm was located, our client spent a lot of time and money cleaning the property and repairing the damage which had been caused by the tenants. In January 2022, the property had been restored and he let the property out to new tenants. Our client was devastated when he received a call from the police in May 2022 which informed him that the house had been destroyed again in order to be turned into another cannabis farm. The police left our client to clear the mess for a second time. This included having to remove cannabis debris from the property which the police left behind. He was then arrested by the police, and they accused him once again of possessing cannabis.

We reviewed the case which included phone and financial evidence. There was nothing within our client's phones or bank statements which suggested that he had any involvement with the production of cannabis. The main evidence against him was the fact that two cannabis farms had been located at the same property within a few months of each other. The prosecution suggested that this meant our client must have known about the drugs, but this was not the case.

We instructed a specialist and experienced barrister to represent our client at his Crown Court trial and began our preparations. We obtained evidence to show that our client had followed the correct procedures when advertising and letting his properties out to prospective tenants. We spoke to those who were closest to him and obtained witness statements confirming that our client had never even touched a drug in his life. We also evidenced the extensive damage which had been caused to the property as a result of each cannabis farm - it was absurd to think that our client would have given permission for an individual to destroy the property and then leave him to clean it up.

Following a 5-day trial, the jury returned Not Guilty verdicts after 20 minutes of deliberating. Our client was extremely relieved and was able to put this terrible ordeal behind him.