Desperate pensioner grew £115,000 worth of cannabis in order to fund his own funeral

Charity shop volunteer Sydney Youngs, 74, was left desperate because he could never repay a £10,000 bank loan he had taken out while working. 

So the enterprising pensioner started cultivating skunk cannabis in a "sophisticated" operation at his home in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

Youngs became increasingly anxious after attending the funeral of his nephew who was "heavily in debt" when he died.

The pensioner - who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - was terrified of dying in the same position and told a man in a pub he did not think his relatives would be able to pay for his funeral.

After retiring at 60 he had spiralled into further debt and failed to pay off his earlier loan from the Halifax bank.

The man told Youngs he knew a way out of his predicament, but it meant breaking the law, Hull Crown Court heard.

He encouraged Youngs to set up the unusual money-making scheme, which saw him turn his home into a large-scale farm. 

But Youngs only received a tiny fraction of the profits - £1,000 for every crop - and was still waiting to be paid for his fourth batch when he was raided by police in May this year. 

The funeral arrangements collapsed when cops discovered 73 plants and 2.8kg of skunk cannabis with a street value of £23,120.

Youngs had grown three crops already and with the fourth seized by the police - the total street value reached £115,120.

The pensioner, who had spent his time volunteering for the Sue Ryder charity shop, told officers he knew what he was doing was wrong. 

Defence barrister Georgina Coade said Youngs was diagnosed with obstructive pulmonary disorder two years ago and had suffered two heart attacks, the most recent, the day before a previous sentencing hearing in September. 

"He attended the funeral of a young man in his family 18 to 24 months ago," she said.

"That young man had died having debts and had what is commonly known as a pauper's funeral Mr Youngs saw the impact of that funeral on his family and how they had to pick up those debts.

"He was upset by this and the devastating effect on his family. He was concerned that he would leave his debt to his family as well."

Mrs Coade explained he had been discussing it with a man he met in a pub over a number of days who offered to meet him at his home. It was there he told Youngs about the £1,000 per crop idea. 

She said Youngs had been "taken advantage of" and was remorseful.

"He performed a lesser roll and was naïve," she added.

But the court heard that although Youngs had led an unblemished life for the past 13 years - he had a criminal record.

He was jailed for five years in 1962 for wounding with intent and for four years in 1974 for non-dwelling burglaries and theft.

Given his background, Recorder Eric Elliott QC said the suggestion that the pensioner was naive was "absolute nonsense."

Youngs admitted cannabis production but escaped prison after the judge took pity on him.

He was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years and will be supervised for 12 months.

The judge said a prison sentence was called for, but he accepted that Youngs had done his "level best to lead a decent life" in recent years. 

He said: "To suggest that you were naive, I think, is absolute nonsense.

"This was a sophisticated set-up and you were more than happy to go along with it.

"At the age of 74, it's very sad to see a man who had managed to turn his life around back in court facing a charge like this."

Last week, a dozen men were jailed for almost 53 years for their part in running a cannabis farm in Wakefield. 

The judge described it as the largest he has seen - almost 1,000 maturing cannabis plants were found, estimated to produce an annual yield of £2.1m.