Gardener found not guilty of stealing plants from Jersey Hemp

Tuesday 03 August 2021

A 25-year-old man has been cleared of stealing flowers from a hemp farm by a Royal Court jury.

They unanimously acquitted Andrew James Richomme this afternoon after a short one-and-a-half-day trial.

Mr Richomme had been accused of illegally entering the home of Jersey Hemp at Warwick Farm in the early hours of 23 September last year and stealing around 3kg of hemp buds. 

It was not in dispute that Mr Richomme was in one of the Jersey Hemp polytunnels that morning - he was captured inspecting plants with the torch on his phone by a motion sensor camera - but he denied that he had taken any budding flowers.

The two 30-second video clips were the only pieces of firm evidence that the prosecution, presented by Crown Advocate Rebecca Morley-Kirk, could rely upon.

Pictured: Mr Richomme's jury trial took place in the Royal Court.

The rest of its case was based on circumstantial evidence: that everyone agreed that flowers had been stolen that night, that he had been to Warwick Farm a year earlier to enquire what was grown there, and that he had been convicted of breaking and entering in the past; therefore, the jury could be sure that he had committed this crime.

However, the six men and six women of the jury disagreed. 

In defence, Advocate Mark Boothman successfully argued that the jury could not be certain that it was his client who had taken the flowers. 

They had never been found, he said, and, further, there had been a "critical failure" in the police investigation because officers had failed to search Mr Richomme’s accommodation as soon as he became a suspect.

This, Advocate Boothman argued, denied his client the ability to prove his innocence because nothing would have been found.

“Mr Richomme chose to give evidence in this trial which he did not need to do,” said Advocate Boothman, summing up his case to the jury on Tuesday morning.

“He gave an honest and truthful account of what happened, choosing to answer questions from an experienced prosecutor. 

“But he was steadfast in his position. He volunteered to the police that he had been in and around the hemp farm with six or seven friends. He admitted he was there - why would he say that if he had stolen kilos of hemp?

“At that time, he had no idea that hemp had been stolen but he linked himself with the hemp farm before he knew of the motion sensor footage.

“Is he a criminal mastermind? We say he certainly isn’t.”

Mr Richomme’s account of the night was that he had been walking past Warwick Farm, which he did not recognise, with a group of friends when they had smelt cannabis, which prompted them to investigate the source.

He said he was only there for a short period of time before they continued their journey to a house party, with no one carrying any bags of hemp.

The Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, was presiding throughout the trial.