A cannabis farmer tried to flee from the back of a property, while police were forcing entry at the front, a court was told.

Police apprehended Aurel Kajo as he tried to sneak from the rear door as officers were executing a search warrant at the house in Albert Street, Shildon, on March 2.

Durham Crown Court heard that three rooms within the house were being used to grow cannabis plants, with 134 recovered in all.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said the set-up was assisted with free power supply as the electricity meter was bypassed.

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An expert police drugs analyst said 45 of the plants were about two weeks from maturity but the remaining 89 were much less mature, about midway through the growth cycle.

Mr Towers said the bulk value of the near mature plants was considered to be about £4,500, while the wholesale value would have been at least £7,600.

Given a nominal £10 value for each of the younger plants, they had an overall £890 valuation, but the expert said the potential gain from the full yield, upon maturity, could have risen to £22,000.

Mr Towers said the expert believed the grower would have been, “very experienced”, fully aware of how to set up a large cannabis cultivation.

The equipment being used in the process would have cost an estimated £6,000 and the conclusion was that the crop was being grown for bulk or wholesale distribution, intended for the “mid-end market" of dealers and distributors.

When interviewed, Kajo, the sole occupant at the property, made no comment.

Mt Towers said the 39-year-old defendant has no previous matters recorded against him.

Kajo, of Albanian nationality, admitted production of cannabis at his first court appearance.

Andrew Fenny, in mitigation, said he has learned the defendant is married with a wife and two young children living back in Albania, with another baby expected soon.

Mr Fenny said the defendant came to the UK illegally in October last year, paying £4,000 to cover the cost of his passage.

He was initially held in a detention centre in the south for about three weeks then sent to a hotel, which he fled from and went to London in the hope of finding work.

As nothing was available to him in the capital, those who assisted with his passage told him there was work in the North East.

“He had very little money upon him and it’s clear the people who approached him are still owed the £4,000.

“He arrived at the address in question on December 4 and, to be fair, he realised straight away the scale of the operation that was going on.

“He was told if he worked up to March 12 the debt would ‘disappear’. All he had to do was water the plants and look after them.

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“He was given £200 to live on and was told he should leave only once a month to get some food.

“To his credit he accepts he was given the key to the back door and could come and go.

“But, to give an example of his situation, he had 30p on him when he was taken into custody.”

Mr Fenny said the defendant has been, “very isolated” in the month-plus that he has been on remand in custody and his instruction to me are that his decision to come to this country to make money for his family has been a disaster for him.

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* Police found 117 cannabis plants being grown at house in Trimdon

* Hartlepool cannabis farmer jailed for 22 months after raid

* Police alerted after neighbour heard banging from next door Shildon home

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“He knows he’s going to serve a prison sentence and is desperate to go home to be with his family.”

Judge Jo Kidd imposed a 20-month prison sentence and told Kajo the sooner he serves the custodial element of the sentence and is deported to Albania, the better for him.

She added: “The message must go out that people who enter this country illegally and choose to involve themselves in criminal activity, that they will likely receive prison sentences and then face deportation.”