Gang jailed for creating huge Breaking Bad-style underground drug factory
A GANG has been jailed for creating a huge underground drug factory in a concealed bunker.
The Marijuana was growing in a hidden room beneath a shipping container
Steven Loveridge bought a disused plot of land in 2009 and built the factory which could be accessed only by stairs hidden in a shipping container.
Police raided the sophisticated, industrial-scale set-up in December 2012 and found 136 marijuana plants.
The facility was capable of producing three crops of marijuana a year with an overall value of £300,000.
The gang even spent £25,000 building mock stables, drawing comparisons with an underground “meth lab” on hit TV drama Breaking Bad.
Exeter Crown Court heard that Loveridge enlisted the help of Clive Platt-Lea and Christopher Kerr to run the site in Shaldon, Devon.
Platt-Lea, 52, was promised £4,000 to look after the crop, while Kerr, 79, was to live on the site and be paid a minimal amount for its security.
All three admitted being part of a conspiracy to produce cannabis.
Steven Loveridge (L) received a six month sentence. Clive Platt-Lea got a 32 month sentence
The underground room could only be accessed by secret staircase
The lab was below a shipping container
Peter Coombe, prosecuting, told the court: “When police opened the door there was a hole in the ground and a ladder or staircase leading down through a trap door.
“It led to a bunker which had all the hallmarks of a cannabis factory.”
Devon and Cornwall Police caught Platt-Lea red-handed in the bunker and Kerr was found in a caravan at the site.
Loveridge, 38, was found at home in possession of cannabis, cash, “hydroponic” growing equipment and a can of pepper spray.
Police found receipts for two jet skis worth £27,000 in his car, large cash sums credited to his bank, several cars and records of transactions.
Loveridge, a builder from Torquay, was jailed for six years. Platt-Lea, of Paignton, Devon, was jailed for 32 months and Kerr, of Torquay, got a 16-month suspended sentence.
Stephen Vullo QC, defending, said that Loveridge was on the cusp of being a legitimate businessman.
The drugs were apparently worth £300,000 a year
This was a highly professional, well planned commercial operation
But Judge Gilbert said: “This was a highly professional, well planned commercial operation to grow cannabis... “It is obvious to conclude that had police not found it when they did this activity would have continued."