A CONCERTED cannabis cultivating business was uncovered when police raided a house, a court was told.

Officers found 64 young cannabis plants growing in the back bedroom of the house, in Seaham, County Durham.

They also recovered a bin liner containing 34 cannabis bush leaves, while various paraphernalia associated with growth of the drug was also found.

David Crook, prosecuting, told Durham Crown Court that detectives estimated the cannabis bush could yield £3,400, if sold at street prices, while the plants, once cultivated, could be worth up to £64,000, providing they were in good condition.

Mr Crook said instructions for growing cannabis were found, containing a future "business plan" for cultivation months ahead.

Robert Kirk Pittard, 37, who had a tenancy agreement on the property, in Ilchester Street, was arrested and told police he had been growing the plants, watering them and adjusting lighting to the right temperature, for two weeks.

He claimed he was being paid £50 a week by a friend to grow the drug and store some of the cultivated leaves.

Mr Crook told the court that Pittard was jailed for six months for cultivating 195 cannabis plants, when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court, in January 2004, and has a subsequent conviction for possessing the drug.

Nick Peacock, mitigating, said Pittard was a reformed cannabis addict, but his downfall more recently has been drink.

On his release from prison in 2004, the trained chef found work in a Newcastle bar, but was sacked because of his alcoholism.

He was given money by a friend, who introduced him to the property in Seaham, asking him to oversee growth of the drug for £50 a week.

Jailing Pittard for eight months, Recorder Peter Johnson said even if he was only the paid minder for the operation, there was a "prolonged business plan" with potentially large yields if it had not been uncovered.