Broke groom jailed after growing cannabis to pay his off WEDDING BILLS

A criminal who built a drug empire in a bid to pay for his WEDDING has been jailed.

Railway worker Henri Canning, 25, harvested hundreds of cannabis plants in his flat netting him more than £15,000.

But his plot to fund his big day was foiled by EDF power engineers who spotted a ‘hot wire’ leading to his makeshift factory in Folkestone, Kent.

The father-of-one was promptly arrested and charged with producing the class B drug.

Canning was jailed for 32 months at Canterbury Crown Court after admitting the production of cannabis and illegally taking electricity.

Jailing him, Judge Heather Norton said: “These are serious offences and you are a man of previous good character and someone who so many people speak so highly of you.

“Why you should find yourself doing these things to pay off debts, one of the reasons I am told, is because of your wedding debts.

“If that is right, then it is tragic that you should have got yourself into so much debts that the only way you thought you could  pay them off was in the way you tried was running a cannabis factory.”

Jim Harvey, prosecuting, said Canning racked up thousands of pounds worth of debt after marrying and moving in with his new wife.

In a bid to get back on his feet he continued to rent his empty flat for three months and spent £3,000 setting up the factory to cultivated mass quantities of cannabis.

Mr Harvey told the court the newly wed father made as much as £15,000 from the sale of the drug.

The plot was only foiled when staff from EDF, who were working nearby, went to check a nearby electricity metre and found it had been tampered with.

When detectives at Kent Police raided the property they found 113 of the plants – that would have landed the crook more than £20,000.

Mr Harvey added: “Fortunately an electrical company had been carrying out work in the area and engineers became concerned about the prodigious amounts of electricity coming from the house.

“Police officers attended the property and discovered a small cannabis factory and later officials at the power company estimated that Canning had taken more than £2,100 worth of electricity illegally.”

Niall Doherty, defending, said Canning “deeply regrets” what he has done and has agreed to repay the electricity firm.

He said Canning faced mounting debts as a result of his wedding and “stupidly and naively” thought growing cannabis was a way to pay “everything off”.

As well as his custodial sentence Canning was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £120.