A cannabis farmer has been jailed after police found almost 200 plants when were called to help a utility company gain access to a property.

Dolfi Qerimi was looking after the farm in Hartlepool on June 22 this year when the officers searched the property.

The 25-year-old Albanian was shipped into the country after making his way through France, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, said the defendant was tending to 187 plants inside the house on St Oswalds Street, Hartlepool, worth between £67,000 and £15,000.

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He said: “He travelled through France and accrued a unilateral debt of £10,000 which he was working in the premises to pay off.”

Qerimi, now of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to producing Class B drug cannabis.

Rod Hunt, mitigating, said his client had spent the equivalent of a year-long sentence after being held on remand for almost six months.

Recorder Anthony Kelbrick sentenced Qerimi to eight months and told him he would serve half of that before he would be released subject to his immigration status.