A drug user caught running a cannabis factory at his home walked free after a judge sympathised with him over being dumped by his wife.

Judge Michael Lawson, QC, told Christopher Cook it was one of the reasons he was departing from sentencing guidelines calling for a jail sentence. He urged the Crown not to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that police raided 38-year-old Cook’s home in Somerset Close, Chatham, in March and found 126 cannabis plants growing.

Simon Wickens, defending, said Cook resorted to the drug after his wife left him and he was fearful about problems with his children.

He also lost his job as a factory worker because of a trapped nerve.

Mr Wickens said:“He went from being a happy family man to finding out one day his wife says: 'I am going’.”

Judge Lawson told Cook: “I will put you out of your misery immediately, I am going to pass a sentence of 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, supervision for 18 months and 150 hours unpaid work.

“The reason I depart from guidelines given by the Court of Appeal in this case substantially is first of all, it is a man without convictions, a decent family man and working, who was faced with the break-up of his domestic situation, his wife going off with someone else.

See Friday's print edition of the Medway Messenger for full report