Southampton cannabis factory fire victim calls to legalise

These are the words of a man woken up in the early hours of the morning when a fire gutted the semi-detached house next to his in Ripstone Gardens, Highfield.

Little did David Batt know that the neighbouring property was being used to grow cannabis - and the fire was a suspected arson attack.

Despite the scare, the 67-year-old does not take an anti-drugs stance.

David Batt (Image: Daily Echo)

He said: “I think they should legalise this cannabis, really. And then it would stop all this, wouldn't it? It would stop my house being in danger. 

“If it stops people’s houses burning down, I would sooner legalise cannabis because the government can make some money out of it, presumably.”

The retired university worker claimed ‘about £4,800 from the insurance company’ for his own damaged roof following the fire in 2019.

He has spoken out now after police revealed they have seized £7.9m of cannabis in an aggressive crackdown over the last 15 months.

At the time, a 28-year-old man from Dagenham was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the production of cannabis and arson with intent to endanger life. 

Following an Echo enquiry this year, police have confirmed he was later released with no further action taken due to ‘evidential difficulties’.

Fire damage at the property in Ripstone Gardens (Image: Daily Echo)

Two further men, aged 29 and 31, of no fixed address, were identified via forensics but were de-arrested and no further action was taken against them. 

The investigation has since been filed, pending any new further information coming to light. 

David said: “I was in a sort of daze. I'd been woken up at four o’clock in the morning watching this house. One moment I thought my house was going to go with it, but the fire brigade did a really good job.

“It's lucky the person opposite heard a noise in the middle of the night, looked out the window and saw the fire had just started in the bedroom opposite. So if that never happened, another half an hour and my house would have gone. Part of the roof went anyway.”

David believes he ‘was incredibly lucky’.

“There was a hole in my roof and the firemen had actually got into my loft and doused some flames that started coming through the wall,” he said.

“So the roof had caught alight on my side just a bit, and I had to replace the whole roof in the end, because once they started pulling it apart, they noticed all the beams and everything like that.”

He added: “I'd have thought the police could have gone along with a drone or a heat-seeking camera, especially in this weather, when it's all cold and worked out where all the hotspots were."

Police outside a cannabis factory in Ripstone Gardens, Southampton (Image: Daily Echo)

In October last year, Sarah and Phillip Murray were left shocked when a fire broke out in a neighbouring home in Oakley Road, Shirley.

The couple only moved in a ‘matter of weeks’ before and ‘didn’t know they had been living next to a cannabis factory’ until it was reported by the Echo.

Sarah, 38, said: “We never saw anyone go in or out, so I didn't think anyone was living there.”

She added: “You don't want it next door to you because you know it fuels other crimes.”

According to police, officers went to the property on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, having received a report of suspicious activity. 

However, ‘no offences were identified at the time, and because of this, officers had no reason or power to enter’.

On Saturday, October 15, emergency services returned to tackle a fire at the same house.

“The fire was put out and approximately 200 cannabis plants were found inside,” said a spokesperson for the force.

At the time of writing, no one has been arrested.

Recent probes by the Daily Echo have revealed that fire and rescue crews were called out to ten incidents at cannabis factories between January 2019 and the end of 2022.

There have been another two reported blazes in the first few months of this year.

Meanwhile, Hampshire police say they have ‘smashed’43 cannabis factories in 2022 and 2023 with a total value of £7.9m.