A cannabis cultivator ended up in custody after getting his sums wrong.

Christopher Revel, 20, had 83 cannabis plants at his rented flat in Albert Terrace, Margate, in October but claimed the drugs – with an estimated street value of up to £100,000 – were for his own use.

Revel, who pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, said he had no intention of making money and began growing the drugs from seeds to feed his own habit.

The £100-a-week cleaner told Judge Heather Norton he had forked out up to £300 on equipment from the internet and had a £400-a-week habit.

Canterbury Crown Court heard the expected yield would have provided 286 days of cannabis – on Revel’s daily estimates of smoking the drug.

Judge Norton told him: “You say you earn £100 a week and have a £400-a-week cannabis habit.

“It is wholly unrealistic to suggest that some of this cannabis would not have got into the community, one way or another.”

Prosecutor Bartholomew O’Toole said builders working in the area had spotted the drugs.

Revel was sent to a young offenders institute for 27 months and the equipment was ordered to be destroyed.