More than 50 cannabis plants found in boot of Mercedes

Now the driver, 33-year-old Andrew Ellis, has avoided prison only because he convinced officers that he was transporting the drug for a friend and was not involved in the production of it himself.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Ellis was in front of a police car in Bestwood Park on Saturday, November 19 when he suddenly “accelerated at great speed” away from traffic lights.

Highly suspicious, the officers went after him and indicated that they wanted him to pull over.

“When he stopped in a car park, he seemed agitated and nervous,” said Gareth Gimson, prosecuting.

“The car was searched and two boxes containing 51 small cannabis plants were found, plus two bin-bags containing everything you’d need for the production process, including fertiliser and gardening gloves.

“When interviewed, he said he had been asked to move it from A to B for a friend.”

Ellis’s barrister, Chris Brewin, mitigating, offered no further comments to the court after hearing that Judge Stuart Rafferty intended to follow the recommendations of a pre-sentence report prepared by probation officers.

In sentencing Ellis, of The Home Croft, Bramcote, to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, the judge told him: “You are a man in your early 30s and it’s time you behaved less like a child and more like a rational person.

“Cannabis is a problem for many people. It is being grown more and more on a commercial basis.

“You were caught with all the necessary plants and paraphernalia. If there had been any evidence that you were involved in growing, you would have been in a far more difficult position.

“If you become involved in drugs over the next two years, you will be sent to prison.”