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Seriously-ill Daniel Mifflin grew cannabis worth up to £14,000 – so he could make cannabis oil to help with his cancer symptoms.

Police found the drugs in the 40-year-old’s loft when they raided his Newcastle home.

A court heard despite the large quantity of cannabis that was seized, there was no evidence of Mifflin having sold any.

Instead, he was using the plants to create an oil, which he took as a vapour to help him through his thyroid cancer.

Magistrates at North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard Staffordshire Police executed a search warrant at Mifflin’s home on February 10.

Prosecutor Ruth Bentley said: “The defendant was present at the time. He told officers there were plants growing in the loft.

“They found a growing area where the roof had been insulated, and there were lights, pots, and growing nutrients.

“There was a tent with 10 baby cannabis plants, plus cannabis that had been cropped and hung to dry.

“Officers also found a number of blue tablets on a table in a first floor bedroom.”

Analysis revealed the tablets were diazepam with a value of £81 – some of which Mifflin had been prescribed, but others that he had bought illegally.

The cannabis seized would have had a street value of up to £14,781.

Mifflin, whose last conviction was in 2007 for possessing cannabis, told police he had been growing the drug for three months. Police inquiries, including an examination of his mobile phone, did not reveal any evidence that he was dealing.

He went on to plead guilty to producing a controlled drug of Class B, and possessing a Class C drug.

Zoe Leese, mitigating, said Mifflin had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years ago, which had spread to his lymph nodes. He has undergone treatment and several operations.

She said: “Unfortunately the prognosis is not the best. There are still cancer cells present and there is nothing that can be done. Treatment can only slow it down.

“The medication he is prescribed is painful for him. He resorted to producing cannabis to produce cannabis oil to help him.

“It takes a large amount of cannabis to produce a small quantity of oil, which he takes as a vapour. The large quantity of drugs was because he needs so much to make enough oil.”

The court heard Mifflins’s sister, who lives in Australia, has also been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Mifflin lost his accommodation due to his offending, and has since moved to North Street in Newcastle.

Magistrates were told Mifflin could not be given a community order because he would not be able to carry out any of the requirements because of his illness.

Instead, he was fined £200 and ordered to pay £185 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.