A SCAFFOLDER who turned his loft into a 'cannabis fortress' is being sought by police after a court issued an arrest warrant for him.

Ashley Tierney, 21, failed to turn up at Exeter Crown Court to say why he had breached a suspended prison sentence with an unpaid work requirement imposed last November after he admitted cultivating cannabis.

Judge Stephen Wildblood QC was satisfied Tierney had received the notice informing of the breach proceedings and issued an arrest warrant not backed for bail.

At the original hearing, the court was told Tierney had turned his loft into a sophisticated cannabis growing room with a hydroponics set-up including fans and lights.

The hatch to the loft was bolted and the house was covered by closed circuit surveillance cameras.

The police had gone to the property in Queen Elizabeth Drive, Paignton, investigating an unrelated matter and were alerted by the strong smell of cannabis.

Officers found 17 plants which would have yielded some £12,000 of cannabis.

Tierney was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years and told to do 120 hours' unpaid work in the community after the court heard the crop was for his own use.

When he was given the suspended sentence, the judge warned Tierney that if he was in trouble with cannabis again he would face a sentence measured not in months but in years.