A YOUNG dad who was growing cannabis plants in his cellar had his child visiting at weekends, a court was told.

Daniel Michael Austin, 27, had 36 plants in a bid to produce drugs for his own use. He had bought seeds legally and had then got lamps and a fan to help the plants along.

He was the subject of a suspended jail sentence at the time, Burnley magistrates heard.

Austin, of Raglan Road, Burnley, admitted producing cannabis, last December 16.

He was fined £375, with £75 costs, and put on a two-month curfew, seven days a week, between 9pm and 5am.

Mark Williams, defending, said Austin, a welder in Accrington, and father of an eight-year-old son, used cannabis and decided, rather then getting it from a dealer, to grow some himself.