John Read, right, at the opening of Artank Galleries in 2009

by Paul Hooper

The Whitstable art gallery owner accused of running multi-million pound cannabis factories told police he was a "bloody scapegoat".

Police had raided a barn in Wootton - which was leased to John Read - and discovered 2000 plants being grown.

The 53-year-old, from Marine Parade, was later arrested and questioned by officers.

The jury at Canterbury Crown Court heard during the interview, Read alleged he had been befriended by the widow of a former business pal.

He claims the woman, called Sue Nicholls or Sue Andrews, had tried to get him to help forge documents in a mortgage application for the farm.

Read said she went under "a lot of names" and the two had met when her husband was dying from cancer in 2008.

"He died and she wanted a shoulder to cry on. That was it really. No more than that. To be honest she became a bit of a pain in the arse, like Fatal Attraction.

"i mean she was talking about all sorts of things, about love and sex, you know, you name it, she was onto me like a rash...” – john read

"She became an absolute nightmare, because she thought my friendship with her was more than what it was. It got very, very nasty.

"She was saying that she'd go round and blackmail me if I didn't help her or do all sorts of things, not that I had anything to be blackmailed on.

"But she said she would tell my wife all sorts of things. She is an evil person."

He told officers that the woman wanted to claim on a mortgage application form that she was an employee of one of Read's companies.

Read said he turned her down.

"She was quite a posh bird and she sort of went round the houses (in asking me) and I said 'no'. I can't see the point of getting in trouble," he added.

Read alleged a letter from one of his company's payroll department was fraudulent.

"I was rarely, because I hate offices, ever in an office. I can't use a computer at all. I am a Luddite, " he told police.

The jury heard of a bust up between Sue Nicholls and Read after he turned down her request for a fake document to be used in the mortgage application.

"I mean she was talking about all sorts of things, about love and sex, you know, you name it, she was onto me like a rash. The mortgage was only a small part of what she was asking me to do.

"She was asking me to confirm that she worked for me. I said no. She was a real conniving bitch.

"We ended up seriously bitter because I was doing it all for the right reasons, sympathy. But she saw something different than what I did.

"I always expected a knock knock on the door from her to turn round to my wife and say: 'Oh by the way, we have had a two-year love affair'. But there was nothing like that going on.

"I could see that she was getting seriously struck on me and I didn't want to get struck on her because I have been married since 1976 and have four lovely children."

Read told officers that since his friend's death, he had never been to the barn where the factory was later found but had signed a lease for the property to help Mrs Nicholls sell the property.

He told police: "Do I look like a drugs dealer? I don't even smoke! I am a bloody scapegoat."

Read and business pal Roger Coombs, 70, from Crawley both deny charges of conspiracy to produce cannabis and perverting the course of justice.

Police later raided properties in Coombe Valley Road, Dover, and the Joseph Wilson Industrial estate in Whitstable where other factories produced drugs with a street value of another £2m were found.

The trial continues.