A WOMAN who allowed her home to be turned into a cannabis factory walked free after a Worcester judge said the case was not serious enough to have come to crown court in the first place.

Judge Martin Jackson, one of Worcester's judges, said magistrates and not him should have sentenced 54-year-old Amanda Evans after 18 cannabis plants were found in her home.

It was accepted she had not set up the cannabis grow herself and a further charge of cultivation was permitted to lie on file.

The most senior judge in Worcester, Judge James Burbidge QC, has urged magistrates to retain jurisdiction for more cases, where they can, as crown courts across the land battle a case backlog which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sally Cairns, prosecuting the case at Worcester Crown Court, said 18 plants were found in one room and 12 seedlings were located under a table in the kitchen as a 'follow-on yield' during a search of the defendant's address.

Growing equipment and plant feed were discovered and one room had been adapted for the purpose of the grow.

The yield from 18 mature plants would be between 540g and 1,350g with a street value of between £5,400 and £13,500, the prosecutor said. Evans had already pleaded guilty to permitting her premises to be used for the cultivation of cannabis when she appeared before the judge.

The last offence on her record dated back to 2012 - a driving with excess alcohol matter for which she received a community order.

Judge Jackson said: "This is a matter which could perfectly well have been dealt with in the magistrates court and did not need to come to crown court."

To emphasise the point he later repeated it, saying: "This matter could - and should - have been dealt with at magistrates court."

A guilty plea had been offered at the magistrates court after police raided her address. She entered a guilty plea on August 3 this year.

"Police raided your address because they had a reports of a smell of cannabis coming from the house" said the judge. Her explanation was that a former partner had cut himself a key to the property and let himself into the address and 'when you got back you found he had set up a cannabis grow and you told him to rid of it but he hadn't done so'.

The judge took account of her mental health problems which meant she had not felt able to approach the police.

She had not felt 'in a position to be proactive about getting rid of the cannabis grow'.

This basis of plea was not contested by the Crown and therefore accepted by the court.

Judge Jackson imposed a 12 month community order to include 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a £100 fine. He stipulated that any breaches of that community order be dealt with by the magistrates court, not the crown court. Evans of Stoney Lane, Kidderminster, must also pay £150 and a statutory victim surcharge which will be calculated administratively.

He further ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the plants and associated equipment and paraphernalia.