A WOMAN from the Amman Valley has been granted bail despite being charged with the production of more than £100,000-worth of cannabis.

Anita Murphy-Patel, 55, appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday to determine whether she would remain in custody.

The charges relate to 376 cannabis plants seized from two properties near Ammanford.

The cannabis seized from one of the addresses had a street value of around £79,000, while the cannabis at the other had a value of just under £38,000, prosecutor Thomas Scapens said.

Murphy-Patel has not entered a formal plea yet, but indicated a not guilty plea in the Magistrates’ Court. Her co-defendant – who sublet the upstairs of her home on Cwmgarw Road – has pleaded guilty.

“She said she did not know what was happening upstairs in her own home?,” asked Judge Huw Rees.

Ian Ibrahim, representing Murphy-Patel, said the defendant had said she was “immobile and only lives downstairs”.

She denied having ever been in the other property, in Upper Brynamman, he said.

“There is no evidence she will commit further offences other than speculation she is involved with criminal gangs,” Mr Ibrahim said.

Judge Rees said “with some hesitation” he would grant bail to Murphy-Patel.

He said he was “not satisfied” that she posed a risk of reoffending while on bail, given her previous clean character.

She, along with her co-defendant, will face a plea and trial preparation hearing on April 24 at Swansea Crown Court.