A MAN who made cannabis oil (CBD oil) from hemp tea and sold it on eBay was “reckless” as to the potency of the product, a court heard.

John Huntrod, who had no licence to produce the oil, also known as cannabis shatter, was said to have “no idea” how much the active ingredient of cannabis was present in the bottles he sold.

Durham Crown Court was told in a year he made more than £100,000 from sales in a professional “set-up”, assisted by his girlfriend, Ruth Robinson, and his mother, Laura Howes, who assisted in sales by use of her Paypal account.

Jane Waugh, prosecuting, said it came to light after Border Force officers intercepted a parcel, imported from Lithuania, at Birmingham Airport, in March 2018.

Addressed to Ms Robinson, it contained 12 foil sealed packages labelled ‘hemp tea’.

Miss Waugh said as a result police went to Huntrod’s home, in Whickham Street, Sunderland, and found what appeared to be remnants of a cannabis grow and butane gas equipment to “cook” the hemp tea to make CBD oil.

He told investigators he had no idea how much of the active ingredient THC was present in the bottles he produced from the tea.

Miss Waugh said 6kg of hemp tea recovered from the property contained enough of the active ingredient, THC, to qualify as cannabis.

Huntrod conceded he did not know whether what he was selling was illegal or not.

Huntrod, 43, of Barnes Road, Murton, admitted cannabis possession and production of, “a small amount”, of cannabis shatter.

The pleas were accepted by the Crown and “no evidence” was offered against Ms Howes, 61, and Ms Robinson, 43.

Lewis Kerr, for Huntrod, said he was “unlikely to come before court again” having endured three years’ “stress and strain” of the case.

Judge Ray Singh said sentencing guidelines were, “clearly not made for offences of this nature”, as Huntrod’s activities, “bordered on legality and illegality”.

Imposing a 12-month community order, with a three-month 6pm to 6am home curfew, the judge told Huntrod he not could claim “naivety and recklessness” if he was found to have engaged in similar behaviour in future.

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Forfeiture and destruction was ordered for the seized cannabis products and paraphernalia.