A “DELIGHTFULLY eccentric” gardener who grew 51 cannabis plants in his loft said he did not steal electricity to do it because “breaking two laws would be bad luck”.

Julian Cramp was discovered growing the plants in a hydroponic set-up in his attic when police raided his home in Divinity Road, Oxford, on February 5 last year.

When officers arrived, the 55-year-old, who is partially deaf, told them they would find what they were looking for in the loft.

A drug expert estimated the plants could be worth up to £18,000 on the street, but Cramp claimed they were all to feed his two-ounce-a-day habit.

The part-time gardener immediately pleaded guilty to producing the Class B drug, and was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Defence barrister Peter Du Feu said his client had gained a 2.1 degree in biology and organic chemistry from Oxford Brookes University in the 1980s.

Mr Du Feu said: “He put those skills to this growing, and he has always been somewhat green-fingered.”

He said Cramp had made a living by playing pool professionally in the 1990s but retired in 1999.

He added: “His home life is rather quiet – he stays at home most of the time and survives on limited benefits.

“He sometimes has bigger additional expenses, revolving mainly around visiting his mother in Cambridge.

“He is a rather eccentric gentleman, sometimes delightfully so, who chooses to live his life in a certain way.” He said Cramp had “learnt his lesson” and since his arrest had given up the drug.

Cramp was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months.