A MAN suffering from a chronic pain condition created a cannabis farm in his home to help ease his aches, a court heard.

When police raided the house in Hartlepool last year, they found plants which could have yielded about £5,000 worth of the drug.

Stephen Wilkins also had £700 worth of skunk cannabis in a glass jar and two bags, prosecutor Nick Dry told Teesside Crown Court.

Wilkins has fibromyalgia - which causes pain all over a sufferer's body - but still manages to work 65 hours a week over six days.

His lawyer, Nicci Horton, said: "He is not a man willing to go on benefits. He has worked all his life to provide for himself.

"With the chronic pain comes an element of anxiety and depression, and sitting at home wallowing is going to exacerbate those issues."

Wilkins, of Gloucester Street, was not given unpaid community work as part of his punishment because he needs to rest on a Sunday.

Judge Simon Phillips, QC, imposed a community order with £85 costs and a three-month electronic tag curfew between 7pm and 5am.

The court heard how police found 16 cannabis plants and growing equipment in a tent in the back bedroom of Wilkins's home.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier court hearing to producing Class B drugs and possessing Class B drugs in September last year.

Judge Phillips told him: "You have fibromyalgia and it has been your practice to smoke cannabis to alleviate that condition.

"You have a strong work ethic and work an impressive number of hours, although the employment is not entirely conducive to your situation."