A CANNABIS-GROWING couple were quite happy to let police search their home for a missing person at 6.30am on a Sunday, York magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Paula Jack said officers checked every room of the house without suspecting the existence of illegal drugs.

But when Daryl Raymond Coupe, 18, became nervous at their request to look in his loft, their suspicions were aroused.

One officer climbed onto a chest of drawers and a second on to his shoulders to look into the roof space.

Inside they found a cannabis garden, complete with heaters, a watering system and timers. A scientist later assessed the plants as capable of producing enough cannabis for more than 1,000 cigarettes.

They also found evidence that Coupe and his partner, Jacqueline Anne Richardson, had harvested some of the female plants and tried to dry them.

Coupe, 18, and Richardson, 31, both of Middleton Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to being concerned in cannabis production. Both were ordered to do 60 hours' community punishment and pay £50 court costs.

Their solicitor, Jackie Knights, said the couple used cannabis recreationally instead of alcohol. They had bought the seeds and a guide to growing cannabis legally in a bid to keep out of the criminal underworld.

Previously, they had made regular trips to dealers who had offered them other drugs they did not want.

So they had decided to grow cannabis in a bid to save money and cut their criminal contacts. All the cannabis was for their own use.

When their neighbours learned about the cannabis plants, they shunned the couple, and Richardson, the tenant, faced eviction under the council's anti-drugs housing policy until officials decided she could stay.

The cannabis had been poor quality, said Mrs Knights.

Updated: 10:50 Friday, May 30, 2003