SOMERSET NEWS: Underground cannabis factory producers told to stump up the cash

TWO men serving prison sentences for production of cannabis at an underground factory in Somerset have been ordered to pay nearly £35,000.  

Adam Williams, from Spaxton, was found to have benefitted to the amount of £39,099 from his criminal activity, and David Bradbury, from West Bagborough, by £35,720.  

The pair were ordered on Friday (January 30, 2015) at Taunton Crown Court to pay £31,370 and £2,905 respectively based on their assets as part of a Proceeds of Crime Act application, and face additional jail terms of 12 months in the case of Williams, and six weeks in the case of Bradbury, if the amounts are not paid within six months.

Bradbury, 51, was jailed for 42 months and Williams, 42, for 54 months by Taunton Crown Court in May last year. A third defendant was found not guilty.

PHOTO - RIGHT: The caravan from which underneath was the hidden-from-view cannabis factory. 

In March 2012 the police raided four shipping containers, buried under land at West Bagborough, seizing 151 plants with a street value probably in excess of £150,000.

Dr Kirstie Cogram, manager of Avon and Somerset Police’s financial investigation unit, said: “The public can be assured that we will deprive criminals both of their liberty and assets if they have been making money through illegal activity like this.”

You can watch a video following the raid on the factory in 2012 by clicking on the picture at the top of this page.

PHOTO - ABOVE: What police discovered when they uncovered the cannabis factory.

PHOTO - ABOVE: The trapdoor from the caravan into the underground cannabis factory.

PHOTO - ABOVE LEFT: Adam Williams. PHOTO - ABOVE RIGHT: David Bradbury.

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