Controversial landlord Fergus Wilson faces a £60,000 repair bill after three of his rental properties were turned into cannabis factories.
Police found cannabis plants at houses in Ashford, Aylesford and Boughton Monchelsea, near Maidstone, which had been emptied in preparation for sale.
Wilson who, along with wife Judith previously owned hundreds of buy-to-let properties in Kent, uncovered the first at a house in Lodge Wood Drive, Ashford, where all the windows had been boarded up. “It was clear to me it was what we call a cannabis factory - I wasn’t too impressed at all,” he told Kent Online.
Photos taken inside the Ashford house show how criminals used power tools to cut through walls, ceiling and floors to make way for ventilation pipes. Wilson estimates the damage will cost him £20,000 per property to repair - money he says cannot be claimed back on insurance.#
“It makes me angry,” he added. “How would these people feel if this was being done to their properties? I feel aggrieved and violated, but unfortunately, it’s a symptom of the day, and it’s widespread all over Kent.”
Chief Inspector Omid Changizi says Kent Police regards tackling the cultivation of cannabis as a priority as it is often managed by organised crime groups. “The offenders regularly use rental properties and can produce a considerable amount of the drug using sophisticated hydroponic equipment,” he adds
The NRLA says statistics show that about 90% of cannabis used in the UK is grown in farms which operate from rented homes. In 2023 ‘Operation Mille’ discovered more than 1,000 farms in raids, seizing plants worth £130 million and arresting more than 1,000 suspects.
Wilson was handed a suspended prison sentence last year after being found in contempt of court for breaching an injunction preventing him from harassing staff and councillors at Ashford Borough Council.
Tags:
Comments