AN electrician who was growing cannabis worth about £4,000 in a specially made “factory” in the attic of his Waterfoot home has been jailed for two years.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Daniel Moyniham, 28, who said he had had a £120 a week drugs habit, had built the set-up, a central room within a room, in his loft with materials he had picked up from sites he was working at.

All 20 of the plants he was tending were flourishing and could have yielded 32 ounces of the drug.

Moyniham, who is self-employed, claimed that he had been growing the cannabis just for himself, but the prosecution had alleged he would have sold some of the drugs on.

A trial over the facts was heard by Judge Graham Knowles, QC, who said he did not believe all of the defendant's evidence.

Moyniham, of Burnley Road East, had admitted producing cannabis, last August 24.

The court was told police broke into the defendant’s home, and searched the property. They found the plants, with lamps.

Giving evidence, the defendant said he had been smoking cannabis since he was 14 and took cocaine at weekends.

He said he had bought 20 seedlings from someone for £100, soil and food, as well as three 600 watt lamps, which together cost him about £200.

He had got instructions on growing the plants from off the internet and had been cultivating them for about eight weeks.

Moyniham claimed that he had been spending £120 on an ounce of cannabis a week and started getting himself into debt.

His girlfriend did not approve of him using drugs, he was becoming anti-social and they had split up.

The defendant said he hadn’t known how many of the plants would survive, but as they cost him £100 as against £120 a week, he could afford to lose some of them and still have some cannabis left.

David Macro, prosecuting, suggested to Moyniham: “You set this up. It did very well and you would have sold some to others to get yourself out of financial trouble.”

Moyniham replied: “I don’t need to sell. I don’t want to go round selling drugs. It was all for me. It was to keep me going.”