Dismay as beloved home sold to HS2 turned into drug farm

EX-OWNER'S SADNESS AS HE SAYS DOOMED NORTHERN LINE 'TORE OUR COMMUNITY APART'

- STAFF REPORTER

A MAN has spoken of his sadness after learning his beloved former Midland family home was turned into a cannabis factory.

Alan Wilkinson, 85, sold the house in Whitmore Heath, Staffordshire, to HS2 for £1.2 million.

He had purchased the property in the 1970s with his wife, Gillian, and had added a swimming pool to the site.

The couple sold the house under a 'special circumstances' scheme after developers announced proposals for the northern route, which would have included twin tunnels built under the hillside hamlet. But the high-speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester was cancelled, leaving the property to rot.

Tragically, Gillian died from pancreatic cancer just weeks before the couple planned to downsize and move elsewhere in 2019.

Now, six years later, Mr Wilkinson has discovered that his old home, which had been put up for rental, was being used to grow large quantities of cannabis.