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A new life in Peterborough - as a drug gardener
A VIETNAMESE man who sold his house and fishing boat for a better life in Britain could only find work as a cannabis gardener in Peterborough.
A VIETNAMESE man who sold his house and fishing boat for a better life in Britain could only find work as a cannabis gardener in Peterborough.Ly Van Pham (29) was found living in a house in St Paul's Road, New England, during a dawn police raid in March this year.
The raid was part of Peterborough Police's "a door a day" campaign to tackle the growing number of cannabis factories set up in the city, and has seen more than 60 factories raided in just two years.
The property had been converted into another factory, with high powered lights and fans in almost all the rooms.
Pham was being employed as a gardener, paid 250 per week, to water and care for the 142 cannabis plants discovered at the house.
The plants were just six weeks away from harvest, when they would have been worth 45,000.
Police have said that each factory can produce up to three harvests every year.
Prosecuting, Craig McDougall told Peterborough Crown Court that Pham had been left with no prospects after arriving in Britain illegally.
He said: "He entered the country illegally, and found himself in London with no job and no prospects.
"He was approached by two Vietnamese men, who offered him a job and a house in Peterborough, and he ended up in St Paul's Road."
Mathew Dance, mitigating for Pham, said Pham's family had sold everything to make it possible for him to travel to Britain.
Mr Dance said: "He is an economic immigrant, who came from a very poor family in Vietnam.
"They sold their fishing boat and their house, so he could come to Britain, where it was hoped that he could send money back to help his disabled sister and elderly parents.
"This was a smaller enterprise than most factories in the city, and he recognises that he has done wrong."
Judge Sean Enright sentenced Pham to 15 months in prison, and recommended him for deportation.
Mr McDougall asked for the drugs and growing equipment to be destroyed.
But as reported in The Evening Telegraph last month, the police are recycling the equipment, and Judge Enright only ordered for the equipment to be confiscated.
Compost from the St Paul's raid has been used on a garden project at Werrington Primary school, and lights stripped and sold to raise police funds.
The drugs were ordered to be destroyed.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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