RACKED with pain from a crumbling spine, 60-year-old William McClagish began to grow and smoke cannabis in a bid to relieve his symptoms.

But his illegal drug growing operation was discovered when police raided his Wisbech home last month, and on Tuesday he walked into court with the aid of crutches, and admitted cultivating 47 cannabis plants in his garden greenhouses.

“He is in pain most of the time, but his consultant does not want to do an operation,” solicitor John Clarke told Fenland magistrates. “He has pain relieving patches, but they do not work well.”

Police went to McClagish’s Bath Road home in Wisbech on July 16, said prosecutor Nicola Rice.

“They were invited into the home by the defendant, he admitted he was growing cannabis and showed officers where they could find the plants,” said Ms Rice. “They were in two greenhouses in the rear garden.”

In the front room of McClagish’s home, officers found a couple of plastic ice cream tubs that were a third full of ground up cannabis; and McClagish handed over a money bag containing a green leafy substance.”

There was no evidence of McClagish supplying the drug, she added.

When interviewed by police, McClagish said the drug helped him to sleep and relax; he smoked neat cannabis rather than mixing it with tobacco.

“He said he watered the plants once or twice a day and fed them with tomato food,” added Ms Rice. “He had been growing the plants since March, we accept it was for his personal use.

“This is not just one or two plants, there was a large quantity of plants and a quantity of ground up material that had been harvested and was ready to smoke.”

McClagish was given a two year conditional discharge, and he must forfeit the plants seized by police. The court ordered him to pay �80 costs