A cannabis farm gardener found inside a Carlisle home containing more than 400 plants – potentially worth £163,200 – has been jailed.
Dang Doan, 49, was a sole occupant of the Waldegrave Road address at which police executed a warrant on December 14 last year.
Several rooms over three floors of the property, Carlisle Crown Court heard today, contained 408 cannabis plants in various stages of growth.
Bin bags which had contained stems from previous crops were found in the conservatory. Equipment used to assist cannabis production, including fertiliser, was found both inside the house and a shed outside, and the electricity supply had been bypassed.
In addition, the living room had been converted into a bedroom, there was a fully stocked fridge, designer clothing was present and so, too, were two mobile phones.
Prosecutor Beth Pilling said: “There was a diary, described a a grow diary, indicating all the grows that had been taking place, and measurements.”
Doan made no comment when quizzed by police after his arrest. But during his first magistrates’ court appearance the very next day he pleaded guilty to cannabis production.
A police drug expert had concluded that the yield could potentially have been up to 16,320g, and worth an estimated £163,200 at the highest level.
The court also heard Doan, of no fixed address, had no previous convictions and acted as gardener of the cannabis farm, amid a degree of coercion and pressure from people higher up the criminal chain.
Taking mitigation into account, Recorder Julian Shaw imposed an immediate 10-month jail term. “There can be no question of you having any control over those who had set up this operation,” the judge concluded.
