A MAN has been jailed for 15 months after he was found hiding in a hole in the floor at a 580-plant cannabis factory in central Bradford.

Blerim Saliaj was looking after the substantial grow on the top floor of an address in Hammerton Street, East Bowling.

Prosecutor Laura McBride told Bradford Crown Court that police officers acting on a tip-off attended the property on January 22. The top window was boarded up and the ad-dress was protected by a locked gate in front of the door.

Saliaj ignored instructions to let the police in so they forced entry and found him hiding in a hole in the floor.

Two rooms had been given over to the growing of cannabis, with 580 mature plants and seedlings discovered.

Saliaj, 40, had a phone, the key to the door and £100 in cash, Miss McBride said.

He pleaded guilty today to production of cannabis and was sentenced on a video link to Leeds Prison where he was remanded in custody.

Glenn Parsons said in mitigation that Saliaj was a hardworking painter and decorator. He got into debt with criminals in his native Albania and he and his family were threatened.

He was promised legitimate work in the United Kingdom but he was taken to the canna-bis farm and told how to look after the plants. His phone was to contact those higher up in the chain.

He accepted that he had a key and could have left but he was too frightened and spoke no English. Saliaj now wanted to serve his sentence and return to Albania.

Mr Parsons said there was a degree of pressure and coercion and he had no influence on those above him in the chain.

Judge Andrew Hatton said Saliaj was responsible for looking after a cannabis factory that comprised 180 large plants and about 400 seedlings.

The meter had been bypassed meaning the electricity was being dangerously stolen to light and heat the grow.

Saliaj had not advanced a defence under the Modern Slavery Act but he claimed to be acting under some pressure. He said he came here to work but had not anticipated that it would be growing cannabis.

He was performing a limited function under direction and would not have received sig-nificant financial benefit.

Judge Hatton said it was likely he would be deported by the Home Secretary after he had served his sentence.