A MOTHER of four who had a £3,000 cannabis farm in her attic was spared jail by a judge who slammed her behaviour as ‘madness’.

Zoe Chadburn, 28, had never been in trouble before but felt overwhelmed by her responsibilities and turned to drugs.

Burnley Crown Court was told how police who turned up at her home on Albion Street, in the town, in July, detected the smell of cannabis at the back of the property. She did not consent to a search of the house, but when officers said they would get a warrant, she said there was something upstairs. Police discovered 35 medium sized cannabis plants with a reflector bulb.

Chadburn was given a suspended custodial term by Judge Beverley Lunt, who described the circumstances of the case as extraordinary and told her: “You are not gong to benefit in any way, shape or form from going to prison and neither are your children.”

The defendant had admitted producing cannabis and had been committed for sentence by Pennine magistrates. She received six months behind bars, suspended for a year, with 12 months’ supervision and must attend the Lancashire Women’s Specified Activity.