An illegal immigrant, who was the “gardener” for a Bradford cannabis factory, has been jailed for 20 months.

Nhon Nguyen, 19, will be deported when he has served his prison sentence, Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday.

Prosecutor Nigel Hamilton said police went to a house in Upper Mosscar Street, Barkerend, in August this year. The defendant was standing in the doorway.

Officers found a cannabis farm in the attic, with a hydroponic system and 80 plants, a number of which had been harvested.

There was an estimated yield of 3.6 kilos of ‘skunk’ cannabis with a street value of £31,000. But the total value of the cannabis, past and present, at the farm was estimated to be £100,000.

Mr Hamilton said Nguyen, of no fixed address, played a significant role as a gardener. The defendant’s solicitor advocate, Michael Reeves, said his client was living rough and borrowed money to exist from a man who enrolled him as gardener to pay off the debt.

Mr Reeves said his client was an illegal immigrant who had paid a significant amount of money to be brought into the country.

Jailing Nguyen, who pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said the defendant was a “willing gardener in a cannabis factory of significance”.