Man claimed he looked after cannabis farm worth almost £300,000 at house in Beeston to pay for sick daughter's medical bills

Leeds Crown Court heard West Yorkshire Police officers made the discovery on September 16 last year when they went to a property on Longroyd Grove, Beeston, to investigate an unrelated matter.

Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, said Toni Hoxha answered the door and spoke to them.

The prosecutor said: "While officers were talking to him they saw that the property housed a significant cannabis farm.

"They also realised that the electricity supply had been bypassed."

Three floors of the property had been converted for the purposes of cultivating cannabis.

Rooms were equipped with ventilation, heating and lighting equipment.

There were 89 plants in the cellar and 64 plants in two rooms on the first floor.

The plants were capable of producing cannabis worth between £114,000 and £185,000.

A further 75 plants were in the early stages of growth on the second floor and had the potential to produce up to £184,000 worth of the class B drug.

Mr Ahmed said: "It was a professionally set up commercial enterprise with the ability to produce around four crops per year."

When interviewed Hoxha told police that he had entered the UK illegally on the back of a lorry.

The defendant said some men had picked him up at a port and drove him to the property in Beeston two days before he was arrested.

Hoxha said he was then told he owed the men £20,000 for arranging his entry into the country.

He claimed he had been told he could look after the plants at the house for four months in order to pay off the debt.

The prosecutor said: "He said the reason he wanted to come to the UK was that his daughter was ill in Albania and he could not afford medical treatment.

"He said he did not leave the house because he was afraid because threats had been made by the males to him."

His fingerprints were later found on heating lamps inside the house.

Hoxha, 34, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.

The court heard he has no previous convictions.

Christopher Dunn, mitigating, said: "He had little understanding of the scale of the operation."

Recorder Sam Green QC jailed Hoxha for 12 months.

He said: "When I look at how much blame you have to take, I note that you were trafficked in to this country.

"It follows from that situation that I have to sentence you on the basis that your crime was largely motivated because nasty criminals had their claws in you."