A YOUNG man found by firefighters inside a Milnthorpe flat that was crammed with cannabis plants has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Khanh Truong, 21, walked out of the upstairs flat at Main Street, Milnthorpe, after a fire crew got into the property as they responded to a report of a water leak on the morning of June 3 this year, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

He denied an allegation that he was producing the Class B drug, claiming that he was simply working there as a cleaner. 

The jury were told that the charge was brought after the defendant was found in an upstairs room, which was equipped with a chair and a camp bed.

Almost all of the upstairs flat had been converted into a secret - and sophisticated - indoor cannabis farm, with the rooms given over to producing plants worth thousands of pounds; it was equipped with growing equipment, including nutrients, powerful growing lamps and cooling fans, said barrister Andrew Evans as he opened the case for the prosecution at Carlisle Crown Court.

There was a cannabis “nursery” area, and mature plants room. Another room was set aside for harvested plants.

The court heard that a fire crew were called to the upstairs flat after the occupiers of the property below reported a water leak. Noticing lights were on inside the flat, one of the firefighters prised open a window.

When he got into the flat, he called out but there was no answer.

The firefighter found the defendant after hearing a noise in an upstairs room and going to investigate. Truong was on the property’s third floor, in a room which was equipped with camp-bed. When asked by the firefighter to unlock the flat’s front door, Truong complied but then immediately left.  

A short time later, the court heard, an Asian man answering his description was found by the police some 70 yards along the road. Initially, the man claimed he had been sleeping rough in a local church yard and had nothing to do with the flat. 

He claimed he was a victim of mistaken identity.

But Truong, who has no fixed addred, then changed his account, accepting he was the person who was in the flat but he said he was there because he had been asked to work in the flat as a cleaner.

He denied having anything to do with the cultivation of cannabis plants. He did not name the person who he claimed had employed him.

Mr Evans said that the jury had been asked to accept that the people behind the cannabis production operation had employed a "total stranger" to clean up around drugs worth thousands of pounds.

It took the jury 31 minutes to reach their unanimous not guilty verdict. Truong was represented by defence barrister Jacob Dyer.