A MAN set up a cannabis den in Ayr High Street to try and provide for his sick child suffering from cancer.

Guy Friedberg resided in the flat above his weed tank where he grew vast amounts of the Class B substance which he meticulously produced to make cannabis oil. He claimed he had researched that this would be an effective treatment for his teenage son.

The 49-year-old appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court on Tuesday, February 12 pleading guilty to producing the illegal substance but maintained there was no attempt to profit financially from his activity and that he only wanted to help his son.

Defence counsel Gregor Forbes told the court: “It is the accused’s position he was growing plants not for any commercial benefit, but to potentially care for his son who has cancer.”

Friedberg, who trades as a jeweller, took up the business property on High Street in June 2018, a month after his son’s diagnosis. Depute Fiscal Ed Sheeran told the court: “On September 13 police attended with a Sheriff Search Warrant. There was a growing area with four tents in the room with head lamps, extraction fans, and air ducting monitors.

“Within the growing room there were air conditioning vents. They found four long cannabis plants. There were four plants with good quantity of budding and 10 infant plants, and four plants with no budding.

“The value was £200-400 if of full maturity and able to produce effectively. The accused after the discovery was arrested.”

Police caught on to Friedberg’s activity that had been ongoing for two months after a window was left open, releasing the strong smell into the busy public street in Ayr town centre.

Friedberg gave details of his son’s illness to police when he was interviewed and said his view was to help his son by producing oil after he researched it on the internet.

But Sheriff Mhari MacTaggart showed little sympathy for the short lived venture and fined Friedberg £1,000. She told him: “Whatever gave rise to you embarking on this fairly well-thought-through set-up and operation, the fact of the matter is that the production of this drug is illegal.

“Whatever personal circumstances had blighted your family, you are not above the law.”