Businessman went from carpets to cannabis

A DESPERATE family man turned to crime when his attempt to build a business failed and left him facing financial ruin.

Carpet fitter Peter Taylor (37) had taken on a four-storey mill in the centre of Oldham, determined to be a success. But Manchester Crown Court heard work quickly dried up and he got deeper into debt.

Facing bankruptcy, Taylor turned the Bow Street mill into a cannabis factory.

When police raided the premises in early February 2013 they found a full working farm on three of the four floors - 244 cannabis plants worth up to £90,000 on the street.

Jailing him for three years and nine months, Judge Adrian Smith told him: “This was your business, and you were in it to make money.”

David Abbott defending, said Taylor “was entirely out of his depth,” and full of remorse for what he has done.

Taylor pleaded guilty to offences of production of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, abstracting electricity, and possession of a prohibited weapon, a CS gas canister acquired fro protection from rivals.