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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

THREE Llanelli men raided a cannabis factory, stealing 34 plants in a "harebrained enterprise".

The "opportunistic, amateurish" theft was given away by a trail of leaves which police followed, town magistrates heard.

Gavin Patrick Carabini, 26, of Stepney Street, Llanelli; Francie McCarthy, 19, of Penybryn Caravan Park, Bynea; and Michael Murphy, also of Penybryn Caravan Park, Bynea, all admitted possessing cannabis, a controlled Class B drug.

Dennis Davies, prosecuting, suggested there was a fairytale element to the case.


"Without being too flippant with it, the one thing with the case, is it is 'once upon a time' at the start of it," he said.

Mr Davies said the three men went to a property in Raby Street, Llanelli, because one of them had been told it was a cannabis factory.

"They harvested 34 plants, and moved them from one part of the building to another part of the building and then came back to retrieve those," he said.

But when they returned, the police were watching, said Mr Davies.

Mr Davies said: "Following a trail of cannabis leaf, police followed the cannabis leaf along the ground to the home of Carabini."

He said it was evident that the three had hatched a plot to steal from the factory.

The prosecution alleged the cannabis plants could be worth up to
3,500, but later admitted the figure may be too high.

Peter Maxfield-Martin, in mitigation, for McCarthy and Murphy, described the figure as "rather fanciful" and described the operation as "harebrained" and "opportunistic, amateurish".

McCarthy was sentenced to six weeks in prison suspended for six months. He was also ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work and to pay
80 prosecution costs.

Murphy, who the court heard had a clean record, was fined
85, and ordered to pay a
15 victim surcharge and
80 costs.

Carabini, represented by Andrew Isaacs, was given a six-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months. A supervision order was made for 12 months and Carabini must carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

AC..

Bongme