A STRUGGLING businessman who turned to crime to solve a financial crisis is starting a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his part in setting up two cannabis farms.

Pet shop boss William Smith had debts of almost £100,000 – some to illegal money-lenders – when he agreed to front the drugs farms in Stockton and nearby Eaglescliffe in 2009.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he involved two friends – James Ellison and Peter Bumstead – who were also businessmen finding it difficult to survive during the credit crunch.

Police found a sophisticated set-up at Bumstead's rented storage depot in Durham Lane, Eaglescliffe, where there were 1,000 plants and seedlings worth a potential £171,000.

The court heard the factory contained more than 100 power packs, lighting, heating and watering equipment, 16 transformer units, drying fans and odour controllers.

Six months later, a raid at Ellison's stud farm in Redmarshall Road, Stockton, uncovered a similar set-up on a smaller-scale inside an insulated freight container in a barn.

Plants with a potential yield of more than £20,000 were found along with heating, lighting and watering gear, and equipment such as humidity controllers and extractor vents.

Smith's barrister, Tony Davis, said the 44-year-old was being controlled by other criminals to whom he owed money, and added: “It was not his operation. It was not his plan.”

Yvonne Taylor, for road maintenance worker Ellison, 32, said his wife's stud farm was hit by the recession and he agreed to let Smith use a barn in return for electricity money.

Andrew Walker described his client Bumstead, 56, as having a distinguished career in the manufacturing industry before encountering financial problems with his printing business.

All three admitted conspiracy to produce Class B drugs – with Smith, of Blakeston Lane, Stockton, pleading guilty to two charges, and the others to one count.

Ellison, of Drovers Lane, Redmarshall, and Bumstead, of Brandon Close, Billingham, each received a 12-month prison sentences, suspended for 18 months, with unpaid work.

Judge Peter Bowers told them: “It is always very sad for me to have to see three people like you in the dock. It is unusual because you are hard-working, respectable family men.”

Detective Constable Tony Snow said last night: “Ellison, Smith and Bumstead were once successful businessmen who made the decision to turn to crime to pay off mounting debts. The sentencing has shown that whatever your background, you will not escape justice.”