A 20-year-old man has admitted growing cannabis at a huge drug farm found inside a mothballed magistrates’ court.
Ilidion Brahaj, 20, of no fixed abode, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to one count of producing a Class B drug. The charge relates to the discovery of a cannabis farm with more than 1,000 plants inside the former Halton Magistrates’ Court on Northway in Runcorn, and spanning a period between but not including September 1 and November 26, 2021.
The case had been provisionally listed for trial, although this was the first time Brahaj entered a plea. Betsy Hindle, defending, said there was a basis of plea that was not contested by the prosecution, although no details were provided.
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Officers from Cheshire Police executed a warrant at the mothballed court a few yards away from Runcorn Police Station next door on Thursday, November 25. The force said the grow involved 1,022 cannabis plants.
In the days following the bust, pieces of growing equipment - some featuring withered cannabis leaves - appeared in skips outside the derelict court building.
Brahaj first appeared at Crewe Magistrates’ Court on Friday, November 26, and has remained in custody since.
At Chester Crown Court on Wednesday, Brahaj entered his guilty plea and was remanded back into custody to be sentenced next month following the completion of a pre-sentence report.
He was assisted by an Albanian interpreter for the hearing, although his barrister Ms Hindle said his English was “good”.
Patrick Gartland appeared for the prosecution, with Recorder Mark Ainsworth sitting.
Halton Magistrates’ Court was shut by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on Friday, January 13, 2017, as part of a cost-cutting restructure that was expected to save £350,000 a year.
It has remained vacant since, plunging into boarded up, smashed-glass dereliction and a magnet for yobs.
As well as shattered windows, its exterior has also been daubed with crudely-drawn male genitalia, and the premises was targeted by an arson attack on December 13.
Bushes obscuring the view of the court from Northway were trimmed back following the discovery of the cannabis farm.
Land Registry documents obtained by the ECHO showed a Staffordshire-based real estate company bought the building in 2020 for £200,000.
The deal contained a sell-on clause for a share of any profit to be paid to the then- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, now rebranded the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
Labour leader Keir Starmer referred to the cannabis farm’s discovery in an op-ed for Metro in which he launched a broadside against Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Government over their record on tackling crime, albeit with no reference in the published article to the ECHO’s breaking exclusive about the farm and subsequent coverage, or the sell-on clause, whose details were clarified by the DLUHC itself to the ECHO and supported by Companies House documentation.
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