For the last four years my husband and I have owned and let a five-bedroom flat in a large Scottish city a few hours from where we live. We’re not property tycoons – far from it. My husband is a church minister, which means we live in a manse (vicarage if you’re south of the border), allowing us to rent our property instead.
As happens, tenants come and tenants go, and last year we found ourselves letting to an Asian family. We asked our new tenants for financial statements and recommendations, none of which raised any red-flags. So ‘Kenneth’ (or a chap we believed to be Kenneth), his girlfriend and cousin moved in.
They seemed like the ideal tenants. The rent came in like clockwork and as we regularly checked in with our tenants, no issues were raised. In November we decided it might be sensible to do a quick inspection of the flat and to meet our new tenants.
Kenneth, a skinny and youthful bloke of Chinese heritage, happily met us at the flat and allowed us in to check up on things. Asides from the flat being sparse of personal effects, it was being well taken care of. Conversation flowed, he seemed decent. There was no indication of any strange activity within the flat itself. Back home we went, reassured our flat was being taken care of.
The bliss of landlording, however, didn’t last long. One Friday evening in February I received a call from our downstairs neighbour. Sheepishly, our neighbour expressed concern that there was something odd going on inside the flat. She didn’t want to raise alarm bells unnecessarily but her guess was our tenants were growing weed, having monitored the flat for a month. The windows were sealed with the curtains constantly drawn; the street stank of weed; construction noises seemed to be taking place at night; and our neighbours never saw our tenants.
When disaster, or potential disaster strikes, you like to think you can ring the police for help. 999, we’re taught, from our earliest of days. We all like to believe that if we need them, if we become the victim of a crime, the police will step in. Well, we’ve learned the hard way that this isn’t necessarily the case.
We considered the facts and decided the best plan was to phone the police. Cultivating cannabis, as far as we were aware, was a crime. Ergo, phone the police. I got through to an operator, explained the situation, and was told someone would phone me back shortly once a police plan was in place. Days passed and we heard nothing, so eventually I phoned the police back to ask for an update. I was told at this point that no officers would be attending the flat because a warrant couldn’t be secured without more evidence. Bemused, I asked the operator how more evidence could be secured without someone attending the scene. She suggested more local residents phoned in their concerns. Unknown to me at this time, multiple neighbours had already reported the activity in the flat, including the headmistress of a local school.
The conclusion of the conversation was that we would have to organise our own inspection of the flat, regardless of the potential danger posed by interrupting criminal activity. I asked the operator how this would work given that we had to give our tenants a 48-hour warning window of inspection, suggesting this might well tip the accused drug farmers off allowing them to scarper or cause us harm on arrival. The response from the operator was akin to a shrug of the shoulders. No solutions proposed or help given.
So, we phoned our tenants and they reluctantly agreed to an inspection 48 hours later. I was heavily pregnant, so my husband travelled to the flat with some family members to provide safety in numbers.
We had been holding out hope that our neighbour might have blown the strange antics out of proportion, and it was perhaps just a bit of weed smoking or the cultivation of a plant or two. As my husband rang the doorbell and gained entry, these hopes were dashed.
Forget a couple of plants: the flat had been converted into a large-scale cannabis farm and trashed in the process. Kenneth and his devious posse had, of course, scarpered.
Discoveries included:
- An overwhelming smell of cannabis
- Soil all over the place
- Compost bags with plant roots
- Bin bag after bin bag of cannabis leaf
- Plastic coverings on floors and windows
- Hundreds of hooks on ceilings
- Rewiring
- Industrial fans and lights
- Furniture moved into two rooms, leaving the other five rooms for cultivation and ventilation
- Radiators and doors off
- Hole in ceiling for ventilation
- Bottles of chemicals/fertiliser
- Extra locks on the door
- General trashing
- And signs that they had scarpered e.g. food left in saucepans on the hob
My husband immediately phoned Police Scotland. Officers attended the scene, expressing their shock at what had taken place. They assured my husband they were taking control of the property and organised for an emergency electrician and locksmith to attend. They were in no doubt about the illegal activity that had taken place in the flat. Whilst it was frustrating Kenneth hadn’t been caught in the act, at least the police now seemed to be taking things seriously.
As the police started collecting evidence and statements were taken, there was an abrupt tone shift. Quite out of the blue my husband was informed that in fact no crime had been committed, as no cannabis bud had been discovered. It was, therefore, no longer a police matter. Whilst it looked like a cannabis farm and smelt like a cannabis farm (and was an actual cannabis farm), the absence of the cannabis bud (the stuff that is ready to smoke) technically meant no crime had been committed. And just like that, the police retreated, leaving my husband with a trashed flat and an abandoned cannabis farm.
We spent the next few days trying to figure out what was most outrageous: being victims of this horrible crime or feeling completely abandoned by the police. Our flat had been savaged, the property damaged, and yet apparently no crime had been committed. Whilst we knew the police weren’t perfect, we had maintained that when things got really bad, obviously bad, they would be there to protect you. How far from true this turned out to be.
The following weekend my husband travelled back to the flat to start the clear-up. Kindly, a group of about 10 blokes from church stepped in to help us, a kindness we’ll never forget. Within minutes of being in the flat, one of the chaps made a discovery, which apparently had been ‘missed’ the week before. Sitting in an open box was a huge bag of cannabis bud, a.k.a. sellable weed. Not being our area of expertise we did a little digging. It turns out just this one bag would be about £10,000-15,000 worth. How had the police not found this during their initial visit?
So, once again my husband phoned the police. As previously mentioned, I was heavily pregnant so had been left behind for obvious reasons. You really don’t want a heavily pregnant lady wandering around a cannabis farm offering to lend a hand. I was unaware of the discovery, so when the police chapped at my door (in another large Scottish city hours from the scene of the crime) asking to speak to my husband, I was somewhat surprised and concerned.
Confused, I asked the police a few questions and soon established they had been sent out to investigate a cannabis farm. I asked what address they had been given. They read out our flat’s address, to which I pointed out was on the other side of the country. A Homer Simpson ‘D’oh’ moment if ever there was one.
They looked embarrassed but not particularly bothered: “Clearly we’re in the wrong place.” I managed to get through to my husband who explained what had been found, following which a police officer did actually turn up to investigate.
Upon seeing the bag of weed the attending officer swore loudly in disbelief. She took the bag, a box of baby cannabis plants that had also been found, and said she would inform the officers who attended the week before and update us accordingly.
Months passed and we heard nothing from the police. The discovery of the cannabis bud didn’t seem to spark an investigation or convince them that indeed a crime had been committed. Who knows what happened to Kenneth.
Not only had we been seriously let down by the police, but they had missed the opportunity of a serious drugs bust. Whilst police arrest little old ladies for praying outside abortion clinics and interrogate people for their social media posts, drug lords roam free on British streets. This horrifying reality should make us all shudder.
Strangely, we did receive a text message from a police officer in yet another Scottish city a few months after, asking for more details on the case and saying that the bag of weed we had found and handed in had been destroyed whilst in police custody. I wonder how they destroyed it?
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God moves in mysterious ways – could have paid for the vestry roof!
Just one word: “anarcho-tyranny”
Horrible crime? Good grief….
This is because cannabis has effectively been legalised – Peter Hitchens’ book ‘Drugs – The War We Never Fought‘ is essential reading.
The only way to get serious attention from Bobby is to put some hurty words on social media. That WILL be treated as a crime even when it isn’t!
Not suprised, had drug dealers operating out of our block of flats, told by police, we need you to gather “evidence”, as if going to put yourself at that risk!.
If you want to solve the drugs problem start by decriminalizing them and treat them as a medical and social problem. The police aren’t interested in weed anyway, as demonstrated by this story. It’s not considered a danger and it’s not physically addictive and the only people who get hurt are those fighting over the profit and landlords who have to deal with the trashed property. And show me a student who hasn’t smoked a joint at sometime in his college days. Even an ex prime minister, David Cameron admitted to trying one.
It is addictive, and often leads to stronger drugs, it destroys lives and has long term health effects,thats why its illegal, but hey only a bit of weed, and everyones done it, only they havent, countrys where its legalised have not suddenly lost their “junkies”, or turned into La la land, drugs cost lives, and are a serious issue, the Police take the attitude they do because they cant be bothered, maybe go live on the US, you can grow it in your back yard, if its medicinal purposes, thats led to deaths,but hey no matter.
Sent my brother psychotic. It is dangerous and addictive. Most of us haven’t used it. The whole legalisation argument is part of the assault on the cattle classes. Soma to keep us quiet.
Just because something‘s legal doesn’t mean you have to use it.
And show me a heroin addict who didn’t start with cannabis.
The process of decriminalising crime started in 1997
With a certain Mr. T. B Liar
I suggest GB News covers this and asks a police representative to take questions live.
OFCOM : As long as they keep it “balanced” !
That baggie could have paid for the damage.
They sold or smoked it themselves for sure, The police are not your friend
In our current anarch-tyranny, the vicar and his wife should have sold the cannabis themselves to compensate for the damage to their flat.
Makes you wonder how the police would have handled this, if it was people of another faith that had this done to their house.
Not at all surprised.
Or, as some people say,
“Shocking, not shocked.”
I really don’t understand why people think the police are there to protect ordinary people. Where exactly is the evidence for this belief?
It couldn’t be clearer or more obvious that the police exist to protect the establishment from ordinary people and to project power and control by the establishment over the masses.
This isn’t some glib comment. This is literally what the police are for.
It’s not just the police – it is all public services, which are self-regulating and self-serving.
Isn’t that black and white checkered headband on their caps supposed to be a Masonic symbol? (Or so I heard down the rabbit hole)
O am not surprised at this story, but for different reasons. Some time ago I had reason to suspect, but could not solidly prove, malfeasance in public office. It was a serial issue, in that each incident that damaged me was a cascade from the earlier ones. The police were involved right from the start but on each occasion they just metaphorically shrugged their shoulders and said (after I formally complained) that they were not authorised to spend money investigating allegations of malfeasance in public office and perverting the course of justice. They maintained that line even after a minor actor in the drama admitted on oath, faced with incontrovertible evidence. that she had faked evidence, under orders from on high. She was disgraced, but her bosses survived. I despair of the way
that Government uses the police to cover up crimes committed by public officials. This is part of a policy of controlling police funding so as to create successful prosecutions, but only for selected crimes. In order to make the Goverment look as though they are successfully “tackling” crime. Whether you are investigated depends on which tier you work in.
At least they didn’t arrest the vicar!
I must admit when I started reading I suspected that would be the outcome, but it would seem even the police are not that inept.
That was my expectation too.
Give it time.
He was lucky he wasn’t caught in the act of praying.
Don’t speak too soon – this mal-information article has been published, defaming both the police and probably innocent Kenneth. Such a divisive and religiously biased author wouldn’t be past planting a joint or two in their flat… (etc).
Typical. One of the very sad aspects of the above story is that not a single word or event described surprises me. The British Police, throughout the UK have become a laughing stock, more interested in painting their stupid electric cars in rainbow colours than actually investigating or solving crime(s). We have been the victims of two serious criminal offences in the past nine years; in both cases no interest or actions from the local Plods. They are about as much use as a fart in a thunderstorm — too busy Taking the Knee to do any actual work.
“Police”
and last year we found ourselves letting to an Asian family
In our deranged anarcho-tyranny state crimes committed by the “protected” people are not really regarded by the state as crimes. In fact, the flat owners, in complaining about “protected group” crime, were lucky not to be arrested for “racism”.
There doesn’t seem to be much difference whether the police are supervised by the Scottish political elite or the British political elite. Your or your husband’s error might have been to mention the tenants were Chinese. I expect they marked you down as racist religious zealots.
now, if they had been white English . . .
The word ‘justice’ should be removed from ‘Criminal Justice System’. I was saying this before I was half-way through my career.