A WALNEY man has been jailed for growing his own supply of cannabis after police officers discovered a tent stashed with the drug at his home address.

Rory Dixon, 34, of Windrush Crescent, was sent to prison for a total of 14 weeks after pleading guilty to two separate offences when he appeared at Furness Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Dixon admitted the charges of cannabis possession and failing without reasonable excuse to attend the Barrow court for a previous hearing when it was listed on Tuesday.

A search of his home by police on Wednesday September 28 found 27 cannabis plants growing under a tent as well as cultivated equipment, including many lights and fans.

Mr Lee Dacre, prosecuting, told the court that the plants were for Dixon's personal use.

Mr Dacre said: "He said he grew it at home to stop him getting involved in the wrong crowd.

"There was 27 young cannabis plants.

"There was a number of large lights, vents and fans."

When fully grown each plant would have produced a yield of approximately 40g.

Ms Maureen Fawcett, in mitigation, said the cannabis plants were very young and mostly two days old.

She said her client's breach of bail in not surrounding to Furness Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning, which was when the case was originally due to be heard, was due to a misunderstanding around the dates.

Magistrates jailed Dixon for 12 weeks for the production of a Class B drug and two weeks for the Bail Act offence, with the two sentences running consecutively.

He was ordered to pay court costs and victim surcharge charges to the total sum of £200.

Magistrates also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis plants.