DRUGS worth thousands of pounds were found stashed in a bedroom cupboard when police visited a property in Port Glasgow.

Officers stumbled upon the cannabis farm after they were called to an incident in the town’s King Street.

Householder Michael Roy pleaded guilty to producing the class B controlled drug at his home address on December 13, 2020.

But the 40-year-old was spared a jail term when he appeared at Greenock Sheriff Court.

Roy had also been charged with being in possession of a meat cleaver in a public place without reasonable excuse on the same date, but the Crown accepted his plea of not guilty to that charge.

Fiscal depute Decla O’Connor told the court that the police and ambulance services had been contacted following an incident on King Street at around 2pm.

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Officers attended at Roy’s property to establish whether there were any injured parties within.

Miss O’Connor said: “Police observed a cupboard door within the bedroom to be ajar, with plants and lights fully visible.

“Police believed these to be cannabis plants.

“Police made arrangements to have a search warrant granted.”

The search warrant was executed at around 7pm that evening, with four plants being seized from the cupboard.

Officers said each plant was ‘likely’ to contain 28 to 84 grams of usable commodity - meaning they had an estimated street value of £200 to £800 per plant, with a potential total value of £2,400.

Roy was cautioned and charged before telling police: “That was me for my own personal smoke.”

Roy’s defence solicitor told the court that her client had been ‘struggling significantly’ with his mental health at the time.

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She added: “He was self medicating at the time.

“He no longer uses cannabis.”

Sheriff Sean Lynch handed Roy a community payback order which will require him to complete 60 hours of unpaid work in 12 months.

Martin Crossan, who had been living at the property at the time, was also charged with producing cannabis, but the 41-year-old's plea of not guilty was accepted by the Crown.