A MAN ran a cannabis-growing operation to cater for his heavy use of the drug, a court heard.

Christopher Watson, 24, was yesterday given a suspended prison sentence after a court heard that he experimentally grew cannabis plants in an outhouse of his east Durham home.

Durham Crown Court was told police visited the house, in Daphne Crescent, Seaham, armed with a search warrant, on October 1 last year.

Jennifer Haigh, prosecuting, said, as they looked around the house, they became aware of a pungent smell of cannabis from an outbuilding, which had blacked-out windows and a double lock.

Watson claimed he did not have a key, but when officers told him they would force their way in, he was able to open the door.

He told them he grew cannabis purely for his own use, and when officers entered the humid building they found 13 mature plants being cultivated.

Miss Haigh said four metal heat lamps were suspended over the plants, with a ventilation pipe from a wall, while the officers also seized bags of fertiliser and plant pots.

When formally interviewed, he told them he was a heavy cannabis smoker to ease pain in his back and knees.

Warren Grier, mitigating, said: "It was his first attempt to try to grow cannabis.

"There has been a lot of publicity on cultivating cannabis on a much grander scale, and this was a much smaller operation, very much on an experimental basis."

Watson admitted cultivating cannabis, between August 1 and October 2 last year.

Judge George Moorhouse told him: "People who cultivate cannabis in the way you were growing it are committing a very serious offence, which I think has to be marked with a prison sentence, albeit suspended in your case.

"You have a partner and family and, from what I have read, you are hard-working. Long may it continue."

Judge Moorhouse imposed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, with 100 hours of unpaid work.

He also ordered forfeiture and destruction of Watson's plants in addition to the equipment seized in the raid.