How garden moss phlox plant smells like cannabis attracted police raid on pensioners

As a retired engineer in his late seventies, Ivor Wiltshire makes an unlikely drug fiend.
But the smell of cannabis around his semi-detached home was unmistakable.
It was so strong that his nextdoor neighbour was even threatened by a drug gang who broke in and demanded: 'Give us the weed, man'.

Ivor and Margaret Wiltshire have launched an official complaint against the police after they raided their home because a garden plant smelled like cannabis

Days later Mr Wiltshire and his wife Margaret returned from a holiday in Madeira to discover that the drugs squad had battered down their front door and searched their property.
All of this was a mystery to the 77-year-old grandfather, who has had no sense of smell since a nose operation 30 years ago.
He was finally told by police, however, that the source of the trouble was moss phlox, a common evergreen which grows vivid pink flowers in the spring.

Although it looks nothing like cannabis, it gives off a pungent aroma similar to the drug.
Mr Wiltshire has now dug it up and lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Police raided the couple's home after their moss phlox plant, which looks nothing like cannabis, gave off a pungent aroma similar to the drug

It follows the case of a widow in the Highlands whose cottage was raided after her tomato plants were mistaken for cannabis.

At his home in Kingswood, Bristol, Mr Wiltshire said: 'We bought the plant four years ago and it took over our front and back gardens.

I was happy because it looked very nice. After this happened I was so distressed that I felt like digging up my whole garden.
'We can't believe that such a small plant has caused so much trouble. I have only seen a picture of cannabis on the television and I have certainly never smoked it.'
It was this summer that the phlox began to smell like cannabis and the Wiltshires noticed a police helicopter frequently hovering over their home.
Then, on October 13, their neighbours David and Christine Difford were subjected to a terrifying robbery by a masked gang looking for drugs.

The couple discovered the raid had taken place after they returned home from holiday and found their front door bolted shut

Mr Difford, 54, 'My wife heard a noise and woke me up so I went downstairs and saw about six men wearing Halloween masks trying to kick in our front door.
'I tried to hold them back but all they could say to me was, "Give us the weed man". They searched the house for more than 20 minutes.
'I'm not surprised that the police made the raid next door because you could smell the plants all the way up the road. It was a really powerful smell and exactly the same as cannabis.'
Yesterday a spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the couple's complaint was being investigated but they had already received a personal apology from the district commander.