A mum of three was spared jail for having a cannabis farm in her home after a court heard she was pressurised into doing it by loan sharks who she owed money.

Sharon Hanson, 39, turned to illegal lenders after getting into financial trouble, but found she couldn’t keep up with their crippling interest rates.

Police also discovered the electricity meter had been by passed to power the farm, but there was no Nike Air Foamposite One way of telling how much power had been illegally obtained. Experts estimated that, when harvested, the cannabis could have been worth 11,500 if sold in small wraps on the street.

Hanson initially denied having anything to do with the farm. But she later said loan sharks had pressurised her into agreeing to the drugs deal.

The court heard Hanson benefited little from the arrangement, and was distraught at affecting her family life.

Hanson who pleaded guilty to charges of producing cannabis and abstracting electricity by by passing her meter was given a suspended 36 week prison term and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Leslie Hull, sentencing, told her: “If it had been for your benefit, I would have no hesitation in sending you to prison. It appears that any reward you did receive was very little.

“The probability is that you got into debt, and those who lent you money pressured you into this situation.” Michael Blakey, defending, said his client whose youngest child is just five had been a woman Nike KD 7 of good character who had managed to keep her head above water Jordan 2 Retro until relatively recently when she got into difficulties and Air Jordan 18s needed money.

He said: “She is concerned and extremely ashamed to find herself in the dock for the first time Air Jordan 15s in her life.

“She readily accepts that she allowed herself to become involved.

If you feel we have made an error in a report, or have fallen below our usual high standards, please write in the first instance to: Rob Irvine, editor, Manchester Evening News, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton, Oldham OL9 8EP.

Free morning newspaper, The Metro, published every weekday, is also part of our portfolio,

delivering more than 200,000 readers in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Business Week is the region’s number one provider of business news andfeatures, targeting a bespoke business audience with 12,687 copies every Thursday.