A SURVIVOR of an IRA mortar attack told a court he thought cannabis plants growing in his home were tomato plants.

Quentin Mccloud X was arrested after police discovered 41 mature cannabis plants in his former home in Carnation Road, Farnworth.

Ian Metcalfe, prosecuting, said officers went to the home on September 4, 2012, when the defendant was being treated under the mental health act but they did not go inside the address.

A week later, cannabis plants were found in the master bedroom.

A search of the home revealed it was largely unlived in apart from the bedroom which had a mattress on the floor, a pile of clothes and a “glass bong” used to smoke cannabis.

No cash or dealers’ lists were found, Bolton Crown Court heard.

Mr Metcalfe said Mccloud X, of no fixed address, told police he had been living rough for three months when he was approached by someone who said they could offer him somewhere to live.

Mccloud X claimed he thought the plants growing in the home were tomato plants. He said he never tended to the plants. Nick Ross, defending, said Mccloud X “deeply regretted” his involvement.

He said the defendant had suffered post traumatic stress disorder, physically and mentally after surviving an IRA mortar attack in 1988.

Recorder Jeremy Lasker, sentencing, said: “There was a considerable amount of cannabis plants that were being cultivated.

“I have no doubt that the intention for the cannabis to be derived from those plants to be sold on.”

The 47-year-old admitted the crime and was sentenced to a three-month jail term suspended for 12 months and a six-month mental health treatment requirement.