News (Media Awareness Project) - UK: John Read Jailed After UKP2m Kent |
| Title: | UK: John Read Jailed After UKP2m Kent |
| Published On: | 2011-08-26 |
| Source: | BBC News (UK Web) |
| Fetched On: | 2011-08-27 06:04:29 |
JOHN READ JAILED AFTER UKP2M KENT CANNABIS FACTORY RAIDS
A Businessman Has Been Jailed Following One of the Biggest Seizures Of
Cannabis Kent Police Has Ever Made.
John Read 54, of Marine Parade, Whitstable, was sentenced to nine
years in prison for conspiracy to produce cannabis worth an estimated
UKP2m.
The father-of-four was also jailed for one year for attempting to
pervert the course of justice, to run consecutively.
He was convicted following a five-week trial at Canterbury Crown
Court.
Read was was arrested after raids at Higher Shelvin Farm, Wootton,
near Dover, in August 2009, and industrial units in Coombe Valley
Road, Dover and at Joseph Wilson Industrial Estate, Whitstable, in
April and May 2010. 'Largest cannabis finds'
The force seized 4,400 plants at the properties. Plants found at the
Joseph Wilson Industrial Estate, Whitstable Kent Police seized more
than 4,400 plants in three separate raids
Det Con Dave Godden said: "This was one of the largest and most
professionally set-up cannabis factory finds in Kent in recent years
and the overall yield from the plants at all three locations would
have been substantial.
"The behaviour of people like Read has no place in our communities and
we remain continually on the look out for such illegal factories
because of the harm they cause and because of the associated criminal
acts which go hand in hand with the running of these illegal operations.
"I am very pleased with the result today and with the judge's comments
which reflected accurately the heavy involvement Read had in these
factories, despite his best efforts to disguise that and put police
off the scent."
Co-defendant Roger Coombs, aged 70, of Lyndhurst Close, Crawley
Sussex, was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two
years, after being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of
justice.
He was told he must also carry out 100 hours of unpaid
work.
Kent Police said two Vietnamese nationals arrested during the raid in
Dover in April 2010 had also been jailed over drugs charges.
A Businessman Has Been Jailed Following One of the Biggest Seizures Of
Cannabis Kent Police Has Ever Made.
John Read 54, of Marine Parade, Whitstable, was sentenced to nine
years in prison for conspiracy to produce cannabis worth an estimated
UKP2m.
The father-of-four was also jailed for one year for attempting to
pervert the course of justice, to run consecutively.
He was convicted following a five-week trial at Canterbury Crown
Court.
Read was was arrested after raids at Higher Shelvin Farm, Wootton,
near Dover, in August 2009, and industrial units in Coombe Valley
Road, Dover and at Joseph Wilson Industrial Estate, Whitstable, in
April and May 2010. 'Largest cannabis finds'
The force seized 4,400 plants at the properties. Plants found at the
Joseph Wilson Industrial Estate, Whitstable Kent Police seized more
than 4,400 plants in three separate raids
Det Con Dave Godden said: "This was one of the largest and most
professionally set-up cannabis factory finds in Kent in recent years
and the overall yield from the plants at all three locations would
have been substantial.
"The behaviour of people like Read has no place in our communities and
we remain continually on the look out for such illegal factories
because of the harm they cause and because of the associated criminal
acts which go hand in hand with the running of these illegal operations.
"I am very pleased with the result today and with the judge's comments
which reflected accurately the heavy involvement Read had in these
factories, despite his best efforts to disguise that and put police
off the scent."
Co-defendant Roger Coombs, aged 70, of Lyndhurst Close, Crawley
Sussex, was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two
years, after being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of
justice.
He was told he must also carry out 100 hours of unpaid
work.
Kent Police said two Vietnamese nationals arrested during the raid in
Dover in April 2010 had also been jailed over drugs charges.
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