The son of millionaire magician Paul Daniels was sentenced yesterday for creating a cannabis farm at his home.

Paul Newton Daniels, 41, was given a 12-month community rehabilitation order after admitting growing 89 cannabis plants in the cellar and bedroom of his home in Northgate, Hartlepool.

He said he grew the plants for medical reasons, to help a respiratory problem.

Magistrates ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the plants and cultivating equipment found at Daniels' home when police raided the property, early on June 29.

Amanda Bryan, prosecuting, said 25 mature plants were found in a cellar rigged up with special lighting, heating and irrigation equipment.

A further 64 plants were discovered in an upstairs bedroom.

Barry Gray, defending, said Daniels' cannabis farm was amateurish, established using information the defendant had downloaded from the Internet.

Mr Gray said his client's motive for growing the plants was to help alleviate his medical condition.

"He is a 41-year-old man. He lives quietly in Hartlepool. He has health problems and the use of cannabis is something that he has only resorted to in the very recent part of his life," said Mr Gray.

''His reasons for doing so was entirely to alleviate the symptoms which have been occurring in the recent past, and have given him considerable discomfort and pain."

Daniels was also ordered to pay £60 court costs.

The unemployed former financial adviser said outside the court that he was forced into growing the plants because he could not afford to buy cannabis from dealers.

His health had deteriorated and doctors told him that it could be the start of angina.

But he said he was not prepared to go to his father for money for treatment.

The pair fell out when Daniels was staying at his father's mansion, in Berkshire, shortly after he had been released from prison for obtaining property by deception.

Daniels said: ''It was just one of those daft arguments that families have. We have had them in the past and made up. I came home late one night and one thing led to another."

Daniels said he believed there was a place in society for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He said: ''It did help me, which is why I started using it. If it helps me, it must help some people - there's been other cases where it has worked."