Drugs dad and son sent to jail

Sam Edwards, 32, and Terry, 68, set up the ‘industrial scale’ cannabis factory on land owned by Terry in Marsh.

As well as growing the plants, which had an estimated street value of £1.35million, the pair stole £24,000 in electricity to power the project.

Representing Terry Edwards, defence solicitor Tanveer Qureshi said that the operation was in its very early stages, and that this should be taken into account when imposing sentence.

On Friday at Amersham Crown Court also appealed to Judge Justin Cole to spare Edwards (senior) a long jail sentence, saying that this would be the first time that he had been away from his wife of 40 years.

Representing Sam, who was previously sentenced to five years in prison for killing Thame man Greg Stiles by dangerous driving, his lawyer Daryl Cherrett, said that Sam admitted that he worked there but said it was not his cannabis factory.

Mr Cherrett said: “He will have lost everything as a result of these proceedings.

“He is living at home and is a man of very little means. He repairs cars and bits of cars to generate a bit of income.”

The court heard that after Sam was jailed for the Risborough Road incident which killed Mr Stiles, he abandoned a burgeoning career in racing, and that the incident had affected him badly.

But Judge Cole said that the pair had showed no remorse for their crimes, and that the set-up was a ‘family business’.

Sentencing Sam to seven-and-a-half years, and Terry to seven years in jail Judge Cole said: “During the trial Terry Edwards gave a detailed account, where he sought to explain his affairs, but this was found to be a pack of lies by the jury.

“He had a prominent role in this organisation and I feel that there is little to distinguish the roles of Sam and Terry.

“It is my ruling that you both had leading roles in this family business.”

“I heard you give evidence, and found that you were thoroughly deceitful, sophisticated and au-fait with every last detail of this business that you tried to conceal from the jury.”

And turning his attention to Sam he said: “Sam Edwards, I note that you were on licence for causing death by dangerous driving, for which you received five years in prison. Before that there was violent disorder and dangerous driving.

“Between these incidents and the incident in which you ended taking up another human life you learned absolutely nothing.”

A third man, Luke Henney, of Cotswold Green, Aylesbury was also sentenced to two-and-a-half years for his part in the plot.

Speaking after the verdict Maggie Stiles, mother of Greg, who was killed in the incident in 2010, said: “No amount of time in prison will bring Greg back, but we do feel that five years for death by dangerous driving was not enough.

“We got a life sentence, Greg got a life sentence.

“Sam Edwards is a perpetual offender and I don’t think that the system knows how to deal with that at the moment. At least if he is prison for these offences he will not be a danger to the public.”