AN illegal immigrant was placed in a house in the North-East to tend a cannabis “factory” on arrival from Vietnam, a court was told.

Hoa van Vu, 30, was jailed for two-and-a-half years, after Durham Crown Court heard of the near industrial scale farm he was overseeing.

Police went to the address in Ferryhill, County Durham, after a report of a disturbance, on September 26.

Jane Mitford, prosecuting, said officers saw van Vu through a window of the property in Thirlmere Road.

A Vietnamese woman was held trying to scale a fence.

Miss Mitford said in searching the surrounding area van Vu was found, barefoot, and arrested.

“Inside the house they found a large cannabis growing operation.

“A total of 396 plants were spread round three rooms and in the loft area," she said.

“His account was that he’d been there for two months and said the young girl joined him at the property about two weeks earlier.

“He told police he came to England four months before his arrest, having arrived on a lorry with no papers or accommodation, and so went on the streets begging.

“By his account he was approached by a male offering food and shelter, which he accepted, and he was driven several hours to the address from where he was arrested.

“He said the plants and growing equipment were already in situ. He was shown how to grow them and accepted putting up a reflective covering on the walls.

“He claimed at first he didn’t know they were cannabis plants, but accepted that he soon realised.

“On his estimate there were about 200 plants, which he watered and fed on a daily basis."

Victoria Lamballe, for van Vu, who admitted cannabis production, described him as a ‘gardener’, well down the chain.

The court was told van Vu will willingly be deported at some point into his sentence.