A cannabis grower was told "don't come back" as he was spared prison over a cannabis factory potentially worth of up to £38,000 in his tenanted home.
Stewart Bacon pleaded guilty to producing the drug and bypassing electricity at the house in Saxondale Drive, in Bulwell, where he lived.
On February 12 he was sentenced concurrently on both charges to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and given a stint of 120 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Adam Feest told Bacon, who is 43 and has no previous convictions, the offences deserved a prison sentence but he suspended the term due to the circumstances.
Another man, believed to have been connected to the sophisticated grow at Bacon's home had not been charged, because someone decided their case did not pass the evidential threshold, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
Recorder Feest said "for some reason" the man had not been charged with any offence but that may not remain position.
This person's home was searched and another cannabis grow found.
"I suspect you were used," he told Bacon.
"But nevertheless your house was used as cannabis factory."
He told Bacon, who was smartly dressed in a suit and tie, to: "Do what you were doing for the last 43 years, not for the last six months."
And he ordered the plants and paraphernalia, found in two bedrooms by police, be forfeit and destroyed.
"Mr Bacon, you are free to go," said the judge. "Don't come back."
Prosecutor Gareth Gimson said the landlord at the house was "tipped off anonymously".
Forty five cannabis plants were growing in the bedrooms, nourished by specialist lighting, and the electricity bypassed.
Mr Gimson said: "We don't seek to say Stewart Bacon is the ringleader. It was a commercial enterprise, albeit not for him."
The court heard Bacon previously joined the army but did not complete the basic training.
He suffered a tragedy, not disclosed in court, 11 years ago.
Felicity Campbell, in mitigation, said Bacon was working as a chef and that was employment he hoped to return to.
