Toasty Carlisle house where snow kept melting hid £163k cannabis farm

When police raided the house in Longsowerby, they found more than 400 cannabis plants, worth an estimated £163,000.

The valuable crop was grown with the help of stolen electricity that fuelled powerful ventilation and heating kit, keeping the roof so warm that the snow falling outside immediately melted.

Fifty-year-old Dang Doan, whose lawyer said he was smuggled into the country from Vietnam, admitted illegally producing the Class B drug. Prosecutor Beth Pilling outlined the facts.

She said police broke into the house in Waldergrave Road on December 14 last year, finding the defendant inside a property where most of the rooms had been adapted for the purpose of growing and harvesting cannabis.

“A total of 408 plants were located in the property,” said the barrister.

“The defendant was the only individual inside the property and several rooms were found to contain cannabis plants at various stages of growth. In the two bedrooms on the first floor were plants which had yet to flower.”

There were yet more plants in the loft room and a cannabis nursery under the stairs.

Doan was sleeping in the living room while in the conservatory there were boxes, inside which were cannabis stems left over from an earlier harvest. Also in the house was a fully stocked fridge, £415 in cash, and items of designer clothing.

“It was clear that the electricity had been bypassed,” said Miss Pilling, pointing out that the police also found a 'grow diary' confirming earlier harvests.

The defendant had no previous convictions in the UK, the court heard.

Andrew Gurney, defending, said Doan had been in the UK for two years, having been brought here with a promise of a “new and better life.” He wanted to support his wife and children but when he arrived in the UK the smugglers told him he owed them £10,000.

He was told to repay that debt by working – including in Carlisle.

By that stage, he wanted to return home and was told that his reward for being the 'gardener' for the cannabis operation would be an air ticket back to Vietnam.

“He’d been there for less than 24 hours when the police arrived,” said Mr Gurney.

“The police only became aware of the address due to it snowing in the local area and this house was the only house where the snow didn’t settle.”

The defendant had essentially been exploited, said the lawyer.

Recorder Julian Shaw said the house had been the base for a “significant cannabis growing operation,” fuelled by stolen electricity. But he accepted that Doan’s role was restricted to that of the “gardener.”

“Undoubtedly, your vulnerability was being exploited,” observed the judge, who also remarked on the intelligent observation of the police officer who saw that the house was the only one in the street where the snow had melted.

Accepting that Doan had played a “lesser role” in the operation, and admitted his offending immediately, Recorder Shaw jailed Doan for ten months.