A Vietnamese dad-of-two has been jailed for taking on a job watering cannabis plants at a house in Shinfield.

The 47-year-old illegal immigrant had come from extreme poverty and had been staying at the house for only 20 days when police became suspicious that the four-bedroom property had no snow on its roof during the icy snap in January.

Thermal imaging equipment was being used by police on another job when they spotted the house in Fair Lawn Green and requested a warrant to search the house where 422 cannabis plants were seized.

Referred to as Hoan Tran, pictured, at Reading Crown Court on March 5 he was sentenced for one count of being concerned in the production of cannabis, which he admitted on January 7, two days after his arrest. He appears on the Crown Prosecution Service file as Ha Le.

But Sandra Beck, prosecuting, said Tran was “no further up the food chain than a gardener”.

Tran had been in the job for only 20 days and had not even been paid yet for the work that he said he was given by a Vietnamese man who met him in London while he was trying to find a restaurant job.

Jan Davies, defending, said: “This man took out a mortgage on his house in Vietnam to pay for his ticket to London because he was in a desperate economic situation.

“He has a wife and two children who were due to receive the money he earned from the job back in Vietnam but he never got paid a penny and now his family owe a debt on the house.

“He tells me he initially did not realise he was doing anything wrong but accepts that he was desperate and had to take whatever work he could find.

“Clearly he knew there was something suspicious about it because the only contact he ever had was by telephone.”

Sentencing Tran to two years in prison, Judge Gordon Risius said: “I accept that you were employed by other people and that you had been doing so for only 20 days.

“However, offences such as these are always regarded as serious.”

He added: “I am told you are in this country illegally and it is therefore likely that you will be transferred to the immigration authorities who may deport you back to Vietnam.”

nslater@reading-epost.co.uk

Site navigation

• Home
• News
• Business
• Sport
• Entertainment
• Lifestyle
• Jobs
• Property
• Motoring
• Classifieds

• A A