FOUR men involved in cannabis production in attics across the North-East were yesterday spared immediate prison sentences.

Durham Crown Court was told the quartet were arrested in police raids at several addresses in the Bishop Auckland area, and elsewhere in the region, in March 1998.

Hundreds of high-yield cannabis "skunk" plants, being grown with the use of lights and watering equipment, were seized from attics and loft spaces at many of the homes.

Adrian Dent, prosecuting, said the inquiry stemmed from surveillance of a farmhouse at Reeth, in the Yorkshire Dales, which one of the group, Alan Peacock, was renting in August 1997.

In the subsequent raids, cannabis plants with yields capable of attracting £11,490 in street level sales were recovered from Peacock's home, in St Wilfrid's Walk, Bishop Auckland.

Twenty-three plants and 108 cuttings, with a possible street sale value of £107,420, were recovered from Darryl Nicholson's home in Princes Street, Bishop Auckland.

Plants worth a possible £5,740 in street sales were found at Terence Norman's former home, in Robert Owen Gardens, Gateshead.

Peacock, 37, Nicholson, 25, and Norman, 36, now of Coach Road Green, Gateshead, each admitted producing cannabis at a previous hearing.

Suspended prison sentences of 21 months were imposed on Peacock and Nicholson, and 12 months on Norman.

Judge Denis Orde said as none of the trio was responsible for the three-year delay in the case coming to fruition, he was taking the "exceptional course" of suspending the sentences.

Ian Thomas Carr, 25, of Seymour Street, Bishop Auckland, who admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis, was ordered to perform 140-hours' community service.

All four were also ordered to pay £400 costs.