THREE brothers from Bournemouth ran a cannabis factory worth around £30,000.
Jake, Joe and Jack Bastable were ‘gardeners’ to a crop of 162 cannabis plants spread through three rooms, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.
Jake, 26, was carrying out the role for a friend in return for a share of the drug, prosecutor Anita Gibson-Lee said.
He and 24-year-old Joe, of Wavell Road, and 20-year-old Jack, of Wheaton Road, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis plants.
The den at Bovington Lane, Wareham, would have yielded more than eight kilos of cannabis.
Police found the brothers’ fingerprints on taps, doors, fertiliser bottles and bin liners at the property in May last year.
Users Joe, who also admitted possessing cannabis, and Jake, who pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing class C drugs, were both sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Johnson handed Jack a 12 month community order, 250 hours’ unpaid work and four-month curfew.
Judge Johnson said: “Had the plants reached maturity they would have been worth somewhere in the order of £30,000. This was relatively big business.”
To Jack he said: “You are saved from an immediate custodial sentence not only by your age and lack of previous convictions but also the very positive approach you have shown to the probation service.” He added: “Keep out of trouble, keep your positive approach to life and drugs.”
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