IPSWICH: A cannabis farm owner’s plants and equipment have been confiscated after police discovered his debut harvest in an Ipswich caravan.

Frankie Nunn was sentenced to 120 hours’ unpaid work at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court yesterday for producing the drug.

Police stopped and searched the 28-year-old on December 12 as he was driving away from the caravan he lived in with his family.

Officers then searched a second mobile home also belonging to Nunn nearby and found 14 cannabis plants.

The vehicle was installed with specialist lights and insulation to create optimum conditions for growing the drug.

The father-of-two said the cannabis was intended for personal use and admitted he had been smoking the substance for 12 or 13 years with friends.

He said he learned how to grow the plant and bought all of the necessary materials to do so through researching the subject online.

He also claimed the only reason he had grown so many plants was because resources on the internet advised several would die before reaching maturity.

Police were unable to put a value on Nunn’s supply as the plants were not fully grown. They confiscated his entire harvest and specialist apparatus, worth between �400 and �600.

He pleaded guilty at the Elm Street court, apologised and said his wife had asked him to leave the family caravan since his stash of cannabis was discovered.

Nunn is now living with his parents near Norwich in Roundwell Park in Costessy, but said he hoped to rebuild his relationship with his wife and children.

n Is enough being done to prevent cannabis farms being set up? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters @eveningstar.co.uk