Point-to-Point owner and trainer jailed for selling cannabis
A Derbyshire-based point-to-point racehorse owner and trainer has been jailed for growing and selling cannabis at his stables.
Fifty-five year old Robert Woods — who pleaded guilty to production, possession and supply of the drug — was handed a 21-month prison sentence by Derby Crown Court on Monday, 5 January.
Nearly 200 cannabis plants, valued at around £30,000, were found at Calke Abbey Racing Stables in Boundary, near Swadlincote, during a police raid in July 2008.
Mr Woods was selling the drug in an attempt to repay a £183,000 debt to loan sharks and was generating up to £400 week profit from the sales.
Avik Mukherjee, who was defending Mr Woods, called it a crime for “needs rather than greed”.
But the activity was named as “professional cultivation” by Judge Everard who sentenced Mr Woods on Monday.
The racehorse trainer must also pay £21,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.