David Pinder, 60, admitted producing cannabis but said it was used as a painkiller for his wife.

A man grew cannabis plants to help his suffering wife with agonising pain from serious back and neck injuries.

She used the cannabis as part of a recipe for cakes that she could eat rather than smoking it and this was less addictive than painkillers, a court heard.

David Pinder, 60, of Saxon Court, Bottesford, admitted producing cannabis on January 13.

James Byatt, prosecuting, told Grimsby Magistrates’ Court that police went to Pinder’s home and found nine mature cannabis plants 4ft tall, with water, lights and a timer.

There were three small bags of herbal cannabis.

The plants could potentially have yielded cannabis with a street value of £9,450.

The total potential value of the cannabis, including that in the bags, was £10,024.

Pinder told police that he grew the cannabis from seeds and there had been one previous crop but it was poor quality.

He grew it mainly for his wife who suffered serious back and neck injuries, including a “crumbling spine”, from an incident 12 years earlier.

“It was used as a painkiller for his wife,” said Mr Byatt.

“She generally has it in cakes.”

Pinder had a drink-driving conviction from February this year.

Ian Haywood, mitigating, said Pinder’s wife had a serious degenerative back problem and cannabis was far less addictive than painkillers provided by a doctor or hospital.

“Mrs Pinder would eat it rather than smoke it,” said Mr Haywood.

“It was going into a recipe rather than a cigarette.

“A previous attempt to grow them hadn’t gone particularly well. It hadn’t worked.”