South Yorkshire cannabis farmer told to find a new painkiller or face prison

Police swooped on Kevin Burgwin's Barnsley home at 8am, on June 5, last year, and discovered 11 plants, along with 600w lamps, timers and an extractor fan, prosecutor Richard Davies told Sheffield Crown Court, on Friday.

Experts estimated the 580 grams of the drug would fetch between £3,730 and £5,800, depending on what quantities they were sold.

Burgin, a window fabricator, told police the plants were for his personal use.

"He smokes a couple of grams a day and said it was cheaper than having to buy it," said Mr Davies.

"He intended to store it for two and a half years and smoke it himself."

But Burgwin, 45, of High Street, Worsbrough Vale, changed his basis of plea before a trial on May 22, after receiving expert advice.

The court heard he has seven previous convictions, including growing cannabis in 2007, and in 2014, when he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Amy Earnshaw, mitigating, said Burgwin could receive a suspended sentence with rehabilitation to help him find other methods of pain relief.

Judge David Dixon told him: "You seem to be involved in growing cannabis once every five or seven years.

"If you have pain issues you will have to find another way of dealing with it. Keep growing and the next time you will go away.”

Burgwin received six months, suspended for two years, with rehabilitation requirements.