A FATHER who cultivated "unusually large" cannabis plants in his garden shed has avoided jail.

Antony McClarence, aged 48, of Poulton Avenue, Breightmet, was a "heavy" cannabis user with a £100 a week habit who decided to grow his own supply for medical reasons, Bolton Crown Court was told yesterday.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

The court was told that each of the eight plants seized would have led to a yield of 84g of cannabis, more than double the usual expected amount of 40g, and that the cannabis was mostly for McClarence's personal use, but that he planned to sell some of it to help finance production.

The court also heard that one of the police officers who attended the cannabis farm at McClarence's home, on August 4 last year, said the plants were "some of the largest plants and longest roots he had ever seen in his policing career".

The brick garden shed which was converted into a cannabis farm measured 20ft long, 9ft wide and 9ft high.

As well as the cannabis, two lightbulbs and a set of scales were seized.

The court was told that McClarence had worked as a steel erector, and had run his own business until two years ago, since gaining work as a labourer.

He had suffered associated health problems, including arthritis, and the court was told that McClarence had been advised by his GP that cannabis could be used as pain relief.

But Neil Fryman, defending, said that this advice did not mean that McClarence should grow his own cannabis.

The court heard that the total amount of cannabis grown would have a street value of £6,720, and that if it was all for his own use, it would have taken McClarence 67 weeks to smoke through the stash.

Addressing McClarence, Recorder Bernadette Baxter said: "You were a heavy cannabis user and you decided to supplement your cannabis use by selling some of the cannabis you were growing.

"You produced eight very large cannabis plants in your garden shed.

"The yield would have been the equivalent of 16 or 17 plants, and you would have sold a small amount of that to like-minded individuals to recoup some of your costs."

McClarence previously pleaded guilty to one count of producing cannabis and one count of possessing cannabis.