Mr Big comes back down to earth

JOELLE DALLY | 8th June 2010

A SMALL-TIME time crook who dreamed of being a Mr Big in the drugs world has found crime doesn't pay.

Former university student William Adams, 33, has been jailed for two years for growing cannabis in his attic.

And he was caught in the most un-Mr Big way;  he dropped a computer memory stick with his cannabis growing plans saved on
it, which was handed into police.

University staff found the memory stick on the grounds and opened the files in an attempt to identify its owner and return it to
them.

However, when they found the essay, they alerted police instead.

Police said he had written an essay outlining how he was going
to make his fortune, starting with growing and selling cannabis.

The article explained in detail how Adams was putting his previous horticultural studies to good use and knew the very best way to grow cannabis quickly and to get optimum sticky buds on his plants.

The essay included photographs of his crop, the secret location and
false ceiling in his flat wardrobe up to where his cannabis was growing
in the roof space.

He used humour in his article, and bragged about how well he had hidden everything, police said.

Police searched Adams' Richmond flat in late January and found 20 cannabis plants, cultivation equipment, and cannabis ready to package and sell.

Police were concerned that Adams may have wanted to sell drugs to other students.

Adams was on holiday at the time, and handed himself in to the  police when he returned home and found his house had been raided.

He pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis.

At the time of his arrest, police said his offending was disappointing, and was not the kind of initiative expected of tertiary students.

Adams is no longer enrolled at the university.