Huge cannabis farm found in former magistrates' court next door to police station

A cannabis farm with 1,022 plants has been found growing in a former magistrates’ court next door to a police station.

Officers from Cheshire Police discovered the grow last Thursday and have charged a 20-year-old suspect with production of a Class B drug in connection with the find.

The building where the farm was located is the former Halton Magistrates’ Court on Northway in Runcorn.

It is next door to Runcorn Police Station and close to Shopping City.

READ MORE: Cannabis farm found in magistrates court next door to police station

When the ECHO visited the scene this morning, two large skips sat outside the back of the building on Northway containing items including reflective sheets and large cylinders or tubes.

Some of the objects had what appeared to be rain-sodden cannabis leaves stuck to their surfaces.

What appears to be a rain-soaked cannabis leaf on growing equipment outside the former Halton Magistrates' Court in Runcorn. (runcornweeklynews)

Wooden fittings and chairs had been left outside the back of the court close to an open window on the building’s first floor.

The back door had been boarded up.

A force spokesman said yesterday that the cannabis farm had been found in a “business premises” in the Halton Lea area, before clarifying this referred to Second Avenue, which is close to the police station.

Skips containing growing equipment on Northway outside the former Halton Magistrate's Court building in Runcorn. (runcornweeklynews)

The Ministry of Justice shut Halton Magistrate’s Court on January 13,2017 in a cost-cutting restructure it said would save £353,000 a year.

Land Registry documents showed a Staffordshire-based real estate company bought the building last year for £200,000.

The deal included a clause to give a proportion of any resale profit to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, now rebranded the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

A panoramic view showing the former magistrates' court on the left and Runcorn Police Station next door straight ahead. (runcornweeklynews)

The building remains undeveloped and lies within a district previously designated the ‘NHS Halton Lea Healthy New Town’ by the Government.

Ilidion Brahaj, 20, of no fixed address, has been charged with producing a Class B drug cannabis in connection with the find and was due to appear at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court in Warrington yesterday.

In a statement issued yesterday, a Cheshire Police spokesman said: "At around 12pm on Thursday, November 25, officers from Cheshire Police executed a drugs warrant at a business premises in Halton Lea, Runcorn.

"A quantity of cannabis plants were discovered within the property and a 20-year-old man was arrested.

Wooden fittings and chairs had been removed and placed outside the back door, now boarded up. (runcornweeklynews)

"Ilidion Brahaj, of no fixed abode, was subsequently charged with production of class B drugs (Cannabis).

"Brahaj appeared at South Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on Friday, November 26, where he was remanded in custody.

"He is next set to appear at North Cheshire Magistrates’ on Monday, November 29."

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