Jail for cannabis farmer who accused PSNI of failing to catch criminals running vast operation yards from his door

Defence lawyer tells court poultry farmer’s chickens will have to be destroyed if he's jailed – but judge dismisses that, saying “Well that’s just something I’m afraid he’s going to have to deal with.”

Clive Weir's defence lawyer told the court it was especially hard for his client to admit his guilt
Clive Weir's defence lawyer told the court it was especially hard for his client to admit his guilt
A farmer who publicly denounced the police for not doing enough to catch those responsible for one of Northern Ireland’s biggest cannabis factories yards from his front door has been jailed for his role in it.

Clive Weir (56) of New Road near Hillsborough last year angrily denied any knowledge of the huge criminal enterprise and when the Belfast Telegraph called at his home he accused “the f*****g police” of inaction.
But in September he pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, using criminal property and converting criminal property, effectively admitting that the brazen attempt to deny his involvement in the drugs trade was a lie.

Now the father-of-six will spend at least a year and a half in jail.

In defending his client, Michael Chambers KC told Judge Donna McColgan KC, sitting in Craigavon, that when the defendant was originally interviewed the police put to him that he was the organiser of this enterprise” and was “a drug dealer”, something Mr Chambers said was wrong because his role was in renting out the property and supplying an electrical generator.

Mr Chambers said he should be entitled to “substantial credit” for pleading guilty, but he accepted that it was “a significant operation”.

He told the judge that Weir comes from “a decent hardworking farming background” and had a “strong work ethic”.

The barrister said Weir’s elderly parents live beside him, relying on their son for assistance – although the judge noted that he has two siblings who are still alive.

Explaining why his client had denied the offences for so long, the defence lawyer said: “None of his friends or family have criminal records so I hope you can understand why it’s particularly difficult for a man of his circumstances…to admit publicly his guilt”.

Although Weir is a chicken farmer, he had been declared bankrupt several years ago and his barrister said he doesn’t own the poultry on his farm.

“They’re owned by a man in Armagh,” he said, telling the judge that if he was immediately sent to jail then the chickens “will have to be destroyed” because “they can’t be moved, apparently”.

The judge interjected: “Well that’s just something I’m afraid he’s going to have to deal with.”

The judge said the cannabis farm was eight metres from back door of Weir’s home.

At points as the judge spoke, Weir bowed his head in the dock; on other occasions he sat with folded arms with a security guard on his left.

The judge said that one of two illegal Vietnamese immigrants who were the “gardeners” in the cannabis farm had told police they’d never been paid and never left the premises.

Prosecution counsel Ian Tannahill argued that Weir should be viewed by the court as effectively the manager of the operation, something Mr Chambers rejected.

According to psychological assessments and submissions from the defence, Weir had mental health problems and had been drinking heavily “due to the stress of the current legal proceedings” but had since got that under control.

The judge said she had been told Weir had never used illegal drugs.

He promised never to repeat his behaviour and claimed he “wasn’t thinking straight” when he got involved in the enterprise.

He claimed he was never inside the premises and never had any dealings with anyone in the premises.

Probation judged him as at medium risk of reoffending.

The court was told that Weir suffers from anxiety and was “extremely anxious about the prospect of an immediate custodial sentence”.
Telling Weir to stand in the dock, the judge told him: “I have considered everything that has been placed before me and I have concluded that had you continued to contest these matters and been convicted by a jury of your peers, the minimum term I could have imposed would have been one of four years imprisonment.”

The judge said she was reducing that by 25% in light of his guilty plea, meaning that he would be jailed for three years – 18 months of which will be in prison and the remainder on licence.

As the judge stopped speaking, Weir held out his hands to be handcuffed and was led away by two prison officers.

When the Belfast Telegraph visited his farmhouse in a respectable part of Northern Ireland last February, there was initially no sign of Weir.

We talked to neighbours and then came back to his home to take some photos, at which point the farmer angrily emerged from behind a wall where he had been watching and demanded we stop.

A poultry farmer whose family have lived in the area for decades, he said he knew nothing about what had happened.

When asked how he felt about the fact that the criminality was going on at his premises, a visibly unhappy Mr Weir said as he paced up and down: “You’re here. How do you think I feel?”

Making clear his unhappiness at the police investigation, he went on to say, “Well if the f****** police would do something about it… where are they?”

Mr Weir said he wished he knew more about what was going on, but he had rented the shed to the individuals responsible. “They used the back entrance,” he said.

The farmer added he did not notice anything suspicious.

He said that an electricity generator which neighbours said ran around the clock — to the irritation of some of them due to the noise — did not strike him as unusual because he has a generator for his poultry due to the price of electricity.

“I am really annoyed. I genuinely am annoyed with all this…It’s at my back door and I knew nothing — nothing — and I really mean that.

“I’m disgraced round the area. How do you think that feels?”

Seven months after that exchange, the police did do something about it – but not what Weir wanted: They charged him with a series of serious crimes linked to the cannabis farm.

He denied all involvement and was due to face trial. But in September he suddenly changed his stance and admitted that he was involved in the massive criminal enterprise.

Defence KC Michael Chambers told an earlier hearing that according to Weir, “his gain was about £42,000” while the prosecution contend his profit was around £100,000.

Speaking at the time the cannabis factory was uncovered, Detective Inspector Kelly said: "This is a large and sophisticated cannabis farm, which required searches by specialist police teams due to the size and set up. It is clearly a well organised operation which bears the hallmarks of an organised criminal gang. The closure of this operation will likely cause massive disruption to the criminals involved.”