'Coach' cannabis factory man jailed

A Shropshire man who helped mastermind the conversion of a 1970s coach into an extensive cannabis factory has been jailed for four years.

Paul Weston, of Ironbridge, and his partner-in-crime Ian Walker were arrested after police officers found 600 plants spread across the run-down Bedford vehicle in Dudley. It was parked up on an industrial estate in the Black Country town and outside a unit owned by the two men.

Three metal containers were found inside the unit along with specialist lighting and heating equipment installed to nurture the plants. Police said the operation could have yielded 24kg of the drug, with a street value of £135,000.

Weston, 39, of Lincoln Hill, and Walker, 44, from Worcestershire, both pleaded guilty to production of cannabis and appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday to be sentenced. Jailing the pair for four years each, Judge Martin Walsh said they were "the owners and managers of this operation - an operation which would have yielded substantial profits. The two of you operated the factory with a view to growing, collecting and selling the cannabis.

He said: "Anybody involved in the large-scale commercial sale or production of cannabis must expect significant sentences."

Weston looked stunned and mouthed "Oh my God" as the judge announced the four-year sentence. Lawyers for the men said they were not the "principal architects" of the factory, but had continued with an operation originally set up by another man who leased the unit from them.