A HOMELESS chef succumbed to temptation when offered use of a property rent-free, providing he tended its growth of cannabis plants.

Artium Aksionov was expected to feed the crop of 93 plants, which was lit and watered with use of sophisticated growing equipment.

But, Durham Crown Court heard that it came to the attention of police who raided the house, in Temple Gardens, Consett, on March 28.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, said Aksionov’s fingerprints were found on bottles of fertiliser and a transformer recovered from the house.

He told police he recently moved into the rented property and was aware of the cannabis ‘grow’, but claimed it had nothing to do with him.

The twenty-eight-year-old defendant, of Front Street, Shotley Bridge, near Consett, admitted production of cannabis.

Aksionov, who is from Lithuania, but of Russian nationality, was said to have no previous recorded convictions.

Adam Scott, mitigating, said the defendant came from Lithuania to work as a chef at an Indian restaurant and takeaway in Shotley Bridge, where he was initially found accommodation by the proprietor.

But, when a relative of the restaurateur moved into that property, Aksionov found himself homeless.

Mr Scott said when Aksionov recounted the story to a man he met in a Consett pub he was offered the rent-free accommodation at the address in Temple Gardens, with the proviso that he tended to the cannabis plants on a daily basis.

Jailing Aksionov for 13 months, Judge Christopher Prince told him: “For the benefit of living rent-free you had to take care of those plants for the main grower.

“It was quite a substantial operation, with 93 plants, offering the potential for quite a considerable profit when they were harvested and eventually sold on.”

The judge ordered confiscation and destruction of the plants and equipment.