CANNABIS Factory on Gordon Avenue

A Southampton man has been collecting rent from a house on Gordon Avenue that he knew was being used to grow cannabis.

Police discovered that two rooms on the ground floor of the property had been dedicated to growing Cannabis with a potential yield between £8000 and £10,000 a year. 

The landlord, Justin Griffiths, 31, of Atherly Road, admitted to knowing about the production that was going on in the house he rents out but was spared an immediate jail sentence.

Griffiths wasn’t involved in the operation and wasn’t getting a cut of the profits but turned a blind eye due to the £550 a month rent he was collecting.

Griffiths has received a 16 month suspended sentence, 200 hours community service and told to pay £1600 in terms of a fine, costs and surcharge. The charge was imposed due to his 18 previous convictions for 59 offences, 4 of which were for possessing cannabis.

Student Joe Rosi, who lives on Gordon Avenue, said:

I knew the street was quite well known for crime, but would never have thought that this was going on. I’m quite disgusted really. It makes me embarrassed to say I live there. You just don’t know what’s going to come next.