A TEENAGER gave the key to her flat to a man she only knew by his nickname so he could grow 20 cannabis plants in her bathroom, a court heard yesterday.

Coralena Marie Foster-Wilson arranged a £400 fee to harbour the "unsophisticated operation" in her home.

Foster-Wilson, 19, of Temple Street, Darlington, admitted cultivation of 20 cannabis plants when she appeared in front of the town's magistrates yesterday.

The court heard that she had lived in a flat in Greenbank Road, also in Darlington, with her boyfriend for only three weeks when police raided it on February 5. Officers found the plants in the bathroom, along with lighting equipment and plant food.

Blair Martin, prosecuting, said: "The defendant told police that she had lived at the flat for three weeks with her boyfriend.

"She had met another man and agreed to grow some plants at her flat for him. He would come to the flat to feed them and a fee was agreed with him.

"She couldn't provide any details about him except for his nickname and the trail was cold."

Police took no action against her partner.

Mr Martin added: "The setup was not intricate whatsoever."

Chris Bunting, mitigating, called it an amateurish and unsophisticated operation, which had no heating or irrigation system. Plants were watered with a watering can.

He said Foster-Wilson had recently moved away from her mother's home in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, at the time of the raid.

She has since moved out of the flat in Greenbank Road to her new home with her boyfriend and was expecting a child in October.

Mr Bunting added: "This was not a situation where she agreed to this individual to help him. She had nothing to do with growing or watering the plants.

"It was simply that he offered her a sum of money in return for the use of the premises. Her role was peripheral."

Magistrates fined Foster-Wilson £100 and ordered her to pay £85 costs and a £15 Victim Support surcharge.