A JOBLESS man set up in business as a cannabis farmer after four years on the dole, a court hear yesterday.

Police were tipped off about Peter Stabler's skunk cannabis farm and when they turned up with a search warrant he told them: "There's nothing in the house, it is in the shed."

They found 28 cannabis plants with a professional cultivation system, said Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, enough to produce cannabis worth £2,600 at street value.

Stabler ran a petrol station in Darlington for 15 years until he was made redundant in 1998 and the cannabis farm was put to him as a moneymaking scheme, said Rod Hunt, defending.

Mr Hunt told Teesside Crown Court: "He is very worried about his future. This was really a reaction to being unemployed for four years.

"He is the sort of person who would assist others were he allowed to serve a community punishment, which is suggested in his pre-sentence report."

Judge George Moorhouse told Stabler: "It is quite clear from what I have heard and read about you that you are highly unlikely to trouble these courts again.

"It seems to me that in these days of overcrowded prisons and the classification of cannabis under debate, I can take an exception view of your case."

Stabler of The Porch, Richmond, was ordered to perform 200 hours community punishment after he pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis plants and possession with intent to supply in July.