A CONVICTED murderer spending life behind bars is being pursued for the profits of his makeshift cannabis factory.

Bournemouth man Alan Pickersgill, who was locked up last year for strangling former girlfriend Julie Bywater, has been handed 27 months in prison for drug production.

Detectives discovered the mini drug farm on a search of Pickersgill’s Southbourne flat the day after he killed Julie, a teaching assistant.

Experts estimate the factory could have earned him £14,000, Bournemouth Crown Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood said officers found 16 cannabis plants, a six by eight foot wooden and cardboard frame in a second bedroom plus an electric fan, watering and lighting system in the attic.

They also took electrical scales and documents listing quantities and prices. Scottish and Southern Energy recorded a rise in power from the property, she said.

In mitigation, Fern Russell said Pickersgill, 38, began taking cannabis for pain relief in 2007, after an industrial accident and developing ME.

Another user then asked him to make more, and he grew four crops, making just over £5,000 in total.

“This is a man with assets,” Ms Russell said. “He was of good character at the time the offences were committed.”

Handing Pickersgill 27 months in jail, to be served concurrently, Judge John Harrow said: “Here we have a person who started off growing for his own use but then moved into commercial.”

The court will hear an application for costs next May.