Amateurish bid to grow drug a record haul
Monday 17th January 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
Anthony Barrasin’s amateurish cannabis growing operation in a shed. (Picture supplied by Guernsey Border Agency )
AN ‘AMATEURISH’ attempt to grow cannabis was at the heart the largest ever seizure of the plants in the island.
Anthony Barrasin, 33, was growing 152 of them in his garden shed, but his venture was discovered after Border Agency officers discovered cannabis seeds in parcels addressed to him.
His home was searched on 2 February and the plants were found in a garden shed, with a strip light and a heater.
In the Royal Court, Barrasin, of Moorland, Sandy Lane, L’Islet, St Sampson’s, admitted the offence after originally denying it. He also admitted two counts of receiving stolen goods.
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I would like to point out that Mr Barrasin does not live at the address in the article, as the house has been sold months ago. The Barrasin family has moved.
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Won’t this new police chief be on probation.
Can the home dept say “Sorry mate this is’nt working out.”
Was this guy an amateur or did he grow the biggest ammount of cannabis ever in the island, surely it can’t be both.
We can’t afford any more police but we can splash 1/2 a mill on armoured cars. we have never needed armoured cars before but now we need three asap.
On CTV they used the Houmet incident to justify the need, how would armoured cars have prevented that?
I reckon we have got a dud, get rid before it cost us another fortune to pay him off.
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Well said Steve
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Only the people on This Is Guernsey could turn a drugs bust into criticism of the police!
Well done for getting another one banged up chaps, keep up the good work.
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ckai’s note re the family having moved out months ago begs the question of why it has taken eleven months to bring this guilty plea to court
Do cases just remain untouched for months in somebody’s in-tray or are the courts so busy that eleven months is now the norm?
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Ray,
When a prisoner is on remand they have less access to prison workshops, education and rehabilation programmes. This is due to the limited facilities at Guernsey Prison, which have to prioritise these programmes for convicted prisoners. Therefore I believe there to some sort of correlation between the demands of the prison and the some what excessive times it takes for cases to go to court.
A side note whilst most prisoners on remand are probably guilty, at some points inocent people will be in prison waiting many monthes before thier day in court.
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Matt
I thought the issue was that remand prisoners were not allowed to freely mix with convicted felons? Remand prisoners being technically innocent of the crime etc…
Are you actually suggesting that the Guernsey judicial system delays the conviction of remanded prisoners so that the woodwork classes do not get too full?
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These damned amateurs growing drugs must be stopped……
let’s get some professionals growing it instead.
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lol @ Scarlett – a quip worthy of Sir Percy Blakeney himself :-)
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Matt you have raised a very interesting point concerning the amount of time a person can be remanded for before a case is presented to the courts.
If someone is accused of an offence which would attract a six month prison sentence and they have been on remand for longer than that would they not be more inclined to plead guilty just so they could get on with their lives. Another point is that the establishment would be more inclined to find a not guilty pleader guilty due to the risk of having to pay substantial recompense for having remanded an innocent person for such a long period.
Surely holding someone for so long without proceeding is against human rights, it could happen to anyone.
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