A FORMER soldier converted two whole bungalows into cannabis growing area, a judge heard yesterday .Peter Campen's bungalow became overwhelmed with the cannabis plants, so he rented another bungalow to grow more – and it was all for personal use, a court was told.

A FORMER soldier converted two whole bungalows into cannabis growing area, a judge heard yesterday .

Peter Campen's bungalow became overwhelmed with the cannabis plants, so he rented another bungalow to grow more – and it was all for personal use, a court was told.

When police raided both bungalows they seized cannabis worth nearly £32,000, the court heard.

Campen, 37, formerly of Morley Close, Beck Row, Mildenhall, but now of Tayfen Road, Bury St Edmunds, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Ipswich Crown Court.

He had admitted two charges of producing cannabis and one of simple possession of the drug.

Sentencing him, Recorder Peter Fenn said of the cannabis growing: “It was large scale, it was sophisticated, it was organised”.

Defence barrister Charles Myatt said Campen had no previous convictions – just a caution for possession of cannabis.

He had spent 10 years in the Army and received an exemplary conduct report when he left.

Campen had started using cannabis in the early 1990's. “He saw it as a means of reducing the stresses of life rather than having alcohol”, said Mr Myatt.

He grew the cannabis for personal use over a period of about nine weeks.

Although it was for his own consumption, it was accepted that there would be a surplus which would inevitably be used by others.

But when he started he did not expect to have so much success. The plants “took over” the bungalow where he lived in Beck Row. He then rented a bungalow at Herringswell, where he grew more.

The court heard earlier from Steven Dyble, prosecuting, that police raided the rented bungalow at Beck Row on June 27 last year.

They seized 28 cannabis plants, four boxes of cannabis leaf as well as cannabis powder, known as “skunk”. High-tech equipment was used to grow the cannabis, said Mr Dyble.

“The bungalow had been converted over to an entire growing area”, said Mr Dyble.

He told how police afterwards raided another bungalow which Campen had rented at Warren Hill Cottages, Herringswell.

There police found a similar set-up with high-tech equipment used for growing cannabis and with the whole bungalow entirely used for this purpose. Here the police seizure included 53 cannabis plants.