A JUDGE has described Ceredigion as "the land of the twitching curtain" as he explained why he would not jail a cannabis grower.

Judge Peter Heywood said if Simon Perrens had been selling the drug local people would have noticed the buyers arriving at his house.

Perrens, aged 46, had been found guilty after a trial of possessing the drug with intent to supply. He had already admitted cultivating cannabis.

Swansea crown court heard how police swooped on Tyewydd, Bronant, on December 12, 2017.

Perrens was not there but they searched the property anyway and immediately saw leaf cannabis being prepared in the kitchen.

In the garden they found two growing tents containing 60 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity.

Judge Heywood said Perrens maintained he needed cannabis to relieve the effect of injuries he had suffered.

Judge Heywood said whatever the medicinal benefits of cannabis the quantity involved was "clearly" too much for personal use.

However, there was no evidence Perrens had actually dealt in the drug.

"Ceredigion is the land of the twitching curtain and if people had been going there they would have been noticed," he added.

He said he accepted that Perrens was a skilled and hard-working man who had left the West Midlands to live in Wales for a better life.

He jailed Perrens for 16 months, suspended for two years, and ordered him to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 towards the cost of his prosecution.