POLICE found 25 cannabis plants growing when they searched the house of a man who had been brandishing a machete at a pub.

The town's magistrates heard a bedroom in the home Carl Dunleavy shared with his partner Lucinda Turrell contained a hydroponic growing system, with a transformer, trays and pots.

The defendants accepted joint responsibility for the production of the cannabis. Dunleavy told police they used the drug and had been growing it for five weeks to save money.

Dunleavy, 44, and Turrell, 19, both of Wood Street, Brierfield, admitted producing cannabis and possessing the drug, on January 14.

Dunleavy also admitted having an offensive weapon in public. Dunleavy, who had no previous convictions, was given 120 hours unpaid work whilst Turrell was fined £150, with £35 costs.

Carl Gaffney, prosecuting, told the court the defendants had been thrown out of the Snowball pub in Brierfield.

Dunleavy went home and returned to outside the pub armed with a machete. He conceded he waved it about and remarks were made but nobody was threatened.

Mr Gaffney said officers went to the defendants' home and came upon the cannabis growing system by chance. Only two plants were mature and the remainder no more than five or six inches high. Small amounts of the drug were also discovered.

The court was told Dunleavy told police he had bought the seeds and equipment from a "hydroponic shop" in Burnley. He said he used cannabis to help ease depression. Dunleavy also told officers he had eight or nine pints of beer before the incident at the pub.

He claimed a man in the pub had accused him of saying something offensive to his wife and he did not like it. The defendant said his girlfriend had been pushed to the floor and he was injured.

Nick Dearing, defending, it was the couple's first attempt at growing cannabis and only two of the plants were showing any kind of maturity.

Mr Dearing said people who Dunleavy had never met before took against him in the pub and he was assaulted.

Both defendants were unemployed, were tired of Brierfield and were going to make their way back to Lincolnshire, where Turrell came from.

He added the couple were not dishonest, but had been stupid and were unlikely to trouble the courts again.