A young couple caught growing and selling cannabis had £1,162 cash in their home and a £950 Louis Vuitton handbag, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Olivia Whyte and Uwais Malik had a crop of the Class B drug with a potential street value of £35,000, prosecutor Daniel Ingham said.

Whyte, 22,and Malik, 24, both of Bracken Hill Drive, Great Horton, Bradford, were told by the judge Recorder Judy Dawson that they would almost certainly have been locked up if they had been dealt with sooner for offences committed as far back as August and September, 2019.

But the pair had since turned their lives around; both were in full-time work and they had huge support from their families.

Each pleaded guilty to production of cannabis at their previous address, possession of the Class B drug with intent to supply it, and a second offence of possession of cannabis with intent to supply, committed in Dewsbury the following month.

The court heard that the police found a cannabis farm at their old address on August 9, 2019. The 76 plants had a potential yield of 4.18 kilos, a wholesale value of up to £25,000, and a street value of £35,000.

There were also individual deals of the drug valued at £220 and a dealer list.

The police seized £1,162 in cash and found a Louis Vuitton handbag bought by Malik for £950.

Recorder Dawson did not hear mitigation in the case because after reading numerous supportive references she stated that the couple would not be sent immediately to prison.

She praised the massive efforts of their families in helping to turn their lives around in the last few years.

Recorder Dawson said the overwhelming likelihood was that Whyte and Malik would have been sent to custody had they been dealt with in 2019 or 2020. But the large gap between them committing the offences and appearing for sentence had enabled them to make great strides forward.

She said that although they might have at first been under pressure to set up the cannabis farm, they became drug dealers themselves and were enjoying the money and life-style that came with it.

Each was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 180 hours of unpaid work.

Recorder Dawson said there was a very good chance of rehabilitation, with both having stayed out of trouble since and found employment.