A grandmother who advocates cooking with cannabis was today ordered to carry out 250 hours' unpaid work after being found guilty of growing and possessing the drug.
Patricia Tabram walked free from Carlisle Crown Court, despite being convicted for a second drugs offence which could yet see her evicted from her housing association bungalow in Humshaugh, Northumberland.
Judge Barbara Forrester told the grey-haired pensioner she must pay £1,000 costs as well as carry out 175 hours' unpaid work for cultivating four cannabis plants and a further 75 hours for possessing powdered cannabis which she stored in her kitchen and added to cakes, curries, casseroles and soups.
The 68-year-old was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when police, acting on a tip-off, found four plants growing in a wardrobe at her bungalow in 2005. They also found powdered cannabis in a jar next to her cooker.
The jury heard Tabram's claims that she used cannabis to ease her depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes.
The jury of six men and six women came back with unanimous guilty verdicts for the two counts, one of possessing the drug and one of cultivating it. Judge Barbara Forrester postponed sentencing to a later date so reports can be prepared.
Tabram, who is defending herself, told the court: "I am old and I am tired, and I am disappointed, not in the result by the jury.
"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it. I just want to go home and get some rest."
Before the proceedings today, the grandmother of two said she was unafraid of going to prison. "I will be with all women in there and they will treat me like a queen. I will be everyone's granny in there.
"I won't have any medicine, I suppose. I will have to ask my son to bring in my walking stick and neck brace."
She was given a suspended six-month jail sentence at Newcastle Crown Court in April 2005 by Judge David Hodson after she was found with plants and cannabis worth £850, which she used to make curries, casseroles, biscuits and soups for local people.
The judge that day declined to make her "a martyr" by jailing her.
Today she described the police who arrested her as "gentlemen" and warmly greeted Tom Moran, prosecuting, as he came into court.
The twice-married former chef and teacher spent last night having a meal in Newcastle with her son, Colin, and two expert cannabis growers. "We giggled all night," she said.
Tabram may yet be jailed, the judge said. During discussions over whether she should be represented by a barrister for the sentencing exercise, the defendant asked the judge what tariff she had in mind.
Judge Forrester said she needed more information and would consider existing psychiatric and probation reports which were prepared following Tabram's previous court case in Newcastle. "I cannot exclude a custodial sentence because you are in breach of a suspended sentence," the judge said.
Sentencing may take place this afternoon, the judge added. Tabram has been supported during the trial by pro-cannabis campaigners.
Lezley Gibson and her husband, Mark, from Alston, Cumbria, were convicted last year of running a cottage industry which made and posted out chocolate bars containing cannabis to multiple sclerosis patients, and were handed suspended jail sentences at Carlisle Crown Court.
Mrs Gibson, who has MS, said: "I am devastated for her - I cannot believe that juries are so spineless.
"I hoped that the jury would find her not guilty and that the law might change. The jury has not taken into account the fact that she is ill because the judge did not let them."
Tabram could be evicted following her second drug conviction. She is a tenant of Milecastle Housing Association, which will hold a meeting after she is sentenced to decide what to do next.
The organisation has met her several times to discuss her drug use and a spokesman said she was aware she had breached her tenancy agreement. "Their decision will be taken after sentence and take all issues and aspects into consideration," he said.
Northumbria Chief Crown Prosecutor Nicola Reasbeck defended the decision to prosecute. "In April 2005 Mrs Tabram was sentenced to six months' imprisonment suspended for two years for possession of cannabis with intent to supply it," she said.
"She was left in no doubt that any breach of that sentence would be taken seriously. In this country the cultivation of cannabis is illegal and, as the judge told the jury in this case, medical necessity is not a legal defence to such a charge.
"Mrs Tabram has made it clear that she thinks the law needs to be changed and we have made it equally clear that if she breaks the law we will consider a prosecution."
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