Man facing deportation after being jailed for being 'consenting gardener' at Sheffield cannabis factory where £136k of the drug was recovered

During a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court today, Judge Sarah Wright jailed Festim Spahia for 20 months for production of cannabis, and told him he is ‘likely to be deported’.

Spahia, 30, was charged after police searched a property in Earl Marshal Road, Grimesthorpe at around 8.35am on September 17 this year.

Ian West, prosecuting, said: “What they found was a sophisticated cannabis factory. The Crown assert Mr Spahia was a consenting gardener.”

Mr West said Spahia appeared to be living in one room at the property, and the ‘rest of the house was dedicated to cannabis growth’.

A total of 65 plants were found on the first floor of the property, and an additional 65 ‘medium’ sized plants were found in the cellar in what Mr West described as a ‘nursery’.

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“The total cannabis yield was 13.76 kilograms, that amounts to a street value of £136,600 or if it’s sold by the kilo, £57,000 – £60,000,” Mr West said.

Spahia, now of no fixed abode, admitted the cannabis production charge at an earlier hearing.

Ruth Newnham, defending, said Spahia had come to the country illegally from Albania in a bid to find work and ‘support his family’.

She said he was given some work as a painter and decorator in London, and was told by an unnamed individual that if he came to Sheffield there would be a job for him.

However, on arrival he could not get in touch with the person who had promised this to him, and he was left homeless.

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Ms Newnham said he was eventually offered a place to stay by someone who spoke ‘some Albanian,’ but was told he ‘would have to work for it’.

“He was told he must do this in order to stay. He had no means of supporting himself, and no means of getting home. He was living on a mattress on the floor. He was receiving only food. He didn’t receive the money he had been promised, if anything at all,” she said.

As she sent Spahia to prison, Judge Wright said: “You came to this country to seek a better life. But as a result of your offending, you are likely to be deported. Giving you full credit for your guilty plea, the sentence I impose is one of 20 months.”

Judge Wright also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis and cannabis paraphernalia seized from the property.