A VIETNAMESE man who illegally entered the country and began working as the gardener at a Widnes cannabis farm will be deported after serving a jail sentence.

Thoai Lo, 44, pleaded guilty to producing the drugs after he was arrested on July 24 at a house on Prescot Road which was being used to grow cannabis.

The judge at Chester Crown Court on Wednesday heard that plants were found in every room of the house except the kitchen and the drugs would have had a street value of up to £34,260.

Prosecuting, Jayne Morris said: “It was clear that there was a cannabis farm at the location as the property smelled strongly of cannabis and lights and fans were being used.

“Police officers saw the defendant move from the kitchen to the garage. When they entered the garage they saw him hiding between a number of cannabis plants.

“He says he entered the country illegally in May 2016. The prosecution accepts that he is effectively a gardener but there is some financial gain.”

Defending, Jeremy Rawson said Lo had been in the UK for just eight weeks and had been approached by a man in Liverpool who asked him to water the plants.

He said: “The defendant comes from a very poor area of the country in the hills between Vietnam and Laos.

“He was offered the opportunity to come to this country and made the long journey over on foot and entered this country illegally.

“He said he was happy watering the plants, it’s a better lifestyle than the one he had in Vietnam.”

Judge Nicholas Woodward, sentencing, said: “You were producing cannabis in a house in Widnes and it was a commercial enterprise as most of the house was being used to grow plants.

“You were acting as a gardener for money and the reality is that you entered this country illegally. You were looking for a better life and you have been preyed on by criminals.”

Lo was handed an eight month prison sentence and was told he will be deported when he is released.