Gardener behind Accrington cannabis factory jailed
11:30am Tuesday 7th September 2010 in
THE gardener behind a large factory in one of Accrington's most affluent districts has been jailed for two years.
The drugs farm was discovered in a property disguised to look like a family home in May.
More than 400 plants, worth around £150,000 were found in the detached property in Royds Avenue, near Haworth Art Gallery.
Vietnamese Hoamg Vu, 36, of no fixed address, admitted producing cannabis between May 10 and 26. The defendant will face automatic deportation when he has served his sentence.
Police said the three-bedroomed property had been made to look like a family was living there, with mown lawns at the front and back as well as children’s toys placed in one of the front windows and a tricycle on the driveway.
Residents on the leafy street, near Hollins Lane and Newton Drive, were stunned at the discovery.
It is thought that the factory had been operating for several months.
The home had been converted so that three large rooms could be used to grow the drugs and a sophisticated watering, lighting and ventilation had been put in place.
Speaking at the time PC Martin Midgley said: “You do not expect to find a factory of this size in an area like Royds Avenue.
"That is why the gangs choose a place like this."
Police said that the power supply to the house had been tampered with to bypass the meter and in each room a network of lights and fans were powered by huge collections of plug sockets.
Comments(11)
wilkinp4
says...
11:47am Tue 7 Sep 10
"That is why the gangs choose a place like this."
Yeah, great police logic there!!!
useyourhead
says...
11:56am Tue 7 Sep 10
happycyclist
says...
12:15pm Tue 7 Sep 10
useyourhead wrote:It's a good point -doesn't it cost in the region of £25,000 a year to imprison criminals? Save £50k and free up a prison cell as well for our home-grown scum (excuse the pun).
deport him now, why should we feed clothe and house him for the duration of his sentence?
barryinthailand
says...
12:17pm Tue 7 Sep 10
wilkinp4 wrote:Was about to post exactly the same comment myself....
Speaking at the time PC Martin Midgley said: “You do not expect to find a factory of this size in an area like Royds Avenue. "That is why the gangs choose a place like this." Yeah, great police logic there!!!
So much for Police intellgence.
and agree why lock him up just send him home now and amnesty international can say all they like. He will almost certainly NOT end up being deported as it would make him a target in one way or another.
wrinkles
says...
12:27pm Tue 7 Sep 10
pez63
says...
1:13pm Tue 7 Sep 10
wrinkles wrote:What a load of b0ll0cks!Some people are that far away from street life its frightening.
The electricity company is failing to act in these circumstances. They are informed when a customer moves house and it should be an easy task to monitor how much energy the house was using in the first 3 months of a new occupancy even without reading the metre. I know this used to be done, as back in 1980, 3 months after we moved into a property & without the metre being read, our supplier knocked on the door and said they estimated our usage was abnormally high and they needed to see our metre. Our previous home used about £36 per annum central heating but in 3 months we'd used over £300 in one quarter due to it being an old draughty property.
bburnshadlad
says...
2:16pm Tue 7 Sep 10
pez63 wrote:not wrong there pez63 mate..this guy has his head firmly up his own a**e
wrinkles wrote: The electricity company is failing to act in these circumstances. They are informed when a customer moves house and it should be an easy task to monitor how much energy the house was using in the first 3 months of a new occupancy even without reading the metre. I know this used to be done, as back in 1980, 3 months after we moved into a property & without the metre being read, our supplier knocked on the door and said they estimated our usage was abnormally high and they needed to see our metre. Our previous home used about £36 per annum central heating but in 3 months we'd used over £300 in one quarter due to it being an old draughty property.What a load of b0ll0cks!Some people are that far away from street life its frightening.
Michael@ClitheroeSince58
says...
2:55pm Tue 7 Sep 10
concerned 200
says...
6:03pm Tue 7 Sep 10
karolgadge
says...
8:33pm Tue 7 Sep 10
The expertise needed to convert a standard house into a cannabis farm is considerable and beyond the capacity of one person.
The 'gardener' will pay the price, but the big fixers, as often happens, may escape. The grounds for hope lie in the fact that the police are well aware that gangs operate in this fashion. Let's also hope that their intelligence networks are busy gathering the information to nail the real big fixers.
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EVIDENCE: Police with cannabis plants that had been cultivated on a large scale in the house
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Paul S. says...
11:38am Tue 7 Sep 10