Drug grower sues police for wrecking her home during raid when they found cannabis



Julia Rawson, 59, claims officers ripped out her bath and toilet in the raid



She says police 'ransacked' her home and caused £31,000 worth of damage



Officers discovered 21 cannabis plants growing in her bedroom

A woman who was found guilty of growing 21 cannabis plants in her bedroom is suing police for allegedly wrecking her house during a raid.



Julia Rawson, 59, of Richmond, Sheffield, claims she was growing the plants, which could produce cannabis with a street value of £21,000, to use as a pain relief from a brain tumour.

She was handed a nine month jail term suspended for 12 months after pleading guilty to growing the 21 seedlings when she appeared in court.





Ms Rawson claims 16 officers ransacked her house during the raid in September 2012. She says they ripped out her bath and toilet and smashed ornaments leaving a repair bill of £31,000

However, she has since been embroiled in a lengthy dispute with South Yorkshire Police after she made a county court claim for compensation.

The spinster claims the presence of cannabis plants did not justify the actions of police officers, who she says ripped out her bath and toilet, causing her home to flood and ceilings to collapse.



She claims the damage caused during the raid at her former house in Intake, Sheffield, has left her with a £31,000 repair bill.



Officers raided her home in September 2012 after receiving a tip-off from Crimestoppers that she was a firearms dealer who was trying to sell a cache of four handguns and ammunition.

However, when police searched her property they found no evidence of guns but instead discovered the factory of cannabis plants germinating in a bedroom.

She claims 16 officers ransacked her home, destroying furniture and smashing ornaments, in their fruitless search for firearms.



Police discovered 21 cannabis plants in the bedroom of the property in Intake, Sheffield, when they carried out the raid. In papers supplied to county court, Ms Rawson described officers involved as ¿pack animals¿

She said: 'They completely wrecked my house. They were throwing things out of upstairs windows, smashing ornaments to make sure nothing was hidden inside, and they removed the bath and toilet without turning off the water, so the place flooded and the ceilings came down.

'I lost everything - they put their feet through my sofas, they had no respect for anything.I had a brain tumour at the time and still do, and this has made me very ill.



'If they had checked out their so-called intelligence first, they would have realised I have never been in trouble with the police before - and I am certainly not a firearms dealer.'







South Yorkshire Police denies liability and a spokesman said: 'Civil proceedings brought by Ms Rawson are ongoing and the force denies liability.



'South Yorkshire Police and the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner have written to Ms Rawson on several occasions following her complaint about the search, executed in September 2012.

