A COUPLE made a last-ditch attempt to hide a cannabis stash worth up to �2,200 as police came to search their home. Samantha Barry and Luke Humphrey got a knock on the door while they were growing cannabis plants at their home in Orchard View, Leverington

A COUPLE made a last-ditch attempt to hide a cannabis stash worth up to �2,200 as police came to search their home.

Samantha Barry and Luke Humphrey got a knock on the door while they were growing cannabis plants at their home in Orchard View, Leverington.

In an apparent attempt to stall them, Barry and Humphrey kept officers waiting while they tried to conceal the plants in the attic.

But police rumbled the pair when they "immediately encountered a strong smell of cannabis" after entering the property on October 28 2009.

Humphrey, 21, then took police up to the loft and revealed the plants, which would have had a potential value of �2,262 once they reached full maturity.

However Barry, 19, and Humphrey escaped jail after Recorder Hodge Malek ruled it was "not a situation where you were cultivating cannabis for profit".

Recorder Malek accepted the plants were for personal use but gave Humphrey a 24 week suspended prison sentence and 180 hours unpaid work.

Barry got a 12 month community order - and a stark warning from the judge.

Sentencing at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday Recorder Malek said: "You've got to try and break away from drugs.

"If you carry on living like that you will be a disappointment to your family and yourself and you're just a waste.

"You are at an early enough point in your life to get yourself back on track."

To Humphrey, he said: "Keep out of trouble. Drugs can clearly wreck your life and it's for you to do your bit to break away.