Chester man jailed over drugs factory

Mar 17 2011 Chester Chronicle

THREE men have been jailed for two years each after admitting their involvement in a sophisticated multi-million pound cannabis factory.

Michael Cree, 26, of Dalton Close, Blacon and brothers John and Karl Faulkner, aged 26 and 36 respectively, both of Rock Lane West, Birkenhead, were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to the production of cannabis.

Cree also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after colliding with several police cars while the three were trying to evade arrest on October 12, 2010.

Six officers were injured during the collisions – four officers suffered whiplash injuries and two were hurt by a wing mirror.

He was sentenced to an additional six months imprisonment.

The investigation, which began in North Wales and crossed borders into Cheshire and Merseyside, was led by officers from the North West Regional Task Force (Titan).

Cree and the Faulkner brothers, the pair of whom were originally from Flintshire, were arrested after leaving a commercial premises on Marshall Street in Birkenhead.

A subsequent search of the building by Titan and Merseyside Police officers revealed an elaborate entrance to the cellar where a cannabis farm with more than 1,550 plants with an annual estimated yield of between £1.8m and £3.6m worth of drugs was discovered.

Detective Superintendent Lee Halstead from Titan, the North West Regional Task Force, said: “Drugs and their associated criminal activity is a blight on the lives of innocent residents and will not be tolerated by police forces across the region.”