Twelve cannabis "farms" in Headington 2007/8
Above: Old Road
552 plants with street value of £88,320 seized, no arrests
18 December 2007: "£88,000 cannabis haul seized"
Above: Harcourt Terrace
100 mature and 150 young plants seized with street value of £28,000, no arrests
Oxford Mail, 30 May 2007: "Landlord discovered over 200 cannabis plants "
Above: 143 Headley Way
400 plants seized with street value of £64,000, three arrests
Oxford Mail, 23 February 2007: "Another cannabis factory closed"
Above: 195 The Slade (former home of John Henry Brookes)
210 plants seized with street value of £33,600, no arrests
23 April 2007: "Police uncover 'dying drug factory'"
Above: 78 Derwent Avenue
450 mature plants seized,with street value of £72,000, three arrests
Oxford Mail, 14 February 2007: " Police root out another cannabis factory"
11 May 2007: "Cannabis gardener sent to jail"
Above: 11 Margaret Road:
Oxford Mail, 14 November 2006: "Firemen expose cannabis farm"
Believed to be trading in cocaine 15 months later:
Oxford Mail, 5 March 2008:"Dawn raids target dealers"
Above: 25 Valentia Road
No plants seized, one arrest
Oxford Mail. 2 February 2007: "Raid uncovers cannabis farm"
There were five additional cannabis farms (not pictured) raided in Headington in 2007:
- Palmer Road, Wood Farm
230 young plants seized with street value of £18,400, no arrests
Oxford Mail, 5 February 2007: "Raid uncovers new city drugs 'farm' " - Dene Road: 29 May
50 plants seized with street value of £8,000, no arrests - Titup Hall Drive
283 plants seized with street value of £45,280, 1 arrest
21 March 2007: "Charged over cannabis houses"
Oxford Mail, 22 June 2007: "Drug grower given jail term" - Brasenose Driftway:
June 2007
139 plants seized with street value of £22,240, no arrests
15 September 2007: "Drugs 'gardener' jailed" - Trafford Road, Headington Quarry
284 mature plants seized with street value of £45,440, no arrests
21 November 2007: "Raid unearths drugs factory"
There were also drug raids in Dene Road (7 January 2007), Stowford Road (6 March 2007), and Holley Crescent (3 July 2007), but no plants were found.
2008
Police raided Headington's thirteenth cannabis "farm" at the top of Headington Hill on Thursday 7 February 2008.
- Oxford Mail, 8 February 2008:
"Police raid £30,000 drug factory"
In addition 11 Margaret Road (discovered to be a "cannabis farm" at the end of 2006) was among a group of houses raided at dawn on 5 March 2008 because they were believed to be linked to an Albanian drugs ring wanted for supplying cocaine across the south of England. A man from Margaret Road was arrested.
- Oxford Mail, 5 and 6 March 2008:
"Dawn raids target dealers"
"Ten remanded on cocaine charges"
The police have said that the vast majority of cannabis factories raided in Oxfordshire were producing skunk. Vietnamese gangs target rental properties, converting almost all the rooms into growing rooms and putting in a "minder" to monitor the operation. Most of the rented houses had the electrical systems tampered with so that power could be stolen from the general supply to provide extra power for hydroponic lights, allowing the plants to flower up to four times a year.
"Watch drugs homes for us" (Oxford Mail, 15 February 2007)
"Cannabis clampdown" (26 December 2007)