A MAN has been spared jail after his secret attic cannabis factory was revealed following a blaze at his home which caused £118,000 of damage.

Thomas Holborn rushed to alert neighbours and even directed fire engines to his house in Ivor Road, Hamworthy, after he was awoken by the fire on November 11 last year.

However, he then panicked as crews battled the fierce flames and ran away, calling friends to seek advice.

Later that night, he called the fire service and told them that he "wished to surrender," prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood said at Bournemouth Crown Court.

"Mr Holborn was within Poole Police Station within about an hour of those calls being made," she added.

"He told officers he had been panicking. Immediately to a police sergeant he said, 'I didn't start it deliberately but I did cause it. It was because of my cannabis growing'."

The electrician was later asked by police: "What do you think caused the fire?"

He replied: "The cannabis I've cultivated in the loft."

The 25-year-old was initially charged with arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, as well as production of cannabis.

Last month, prosecutors confirmed they would drop the first charge, and at his sentencing the defendant was found formally not guilty of the offence.

Although much of the cannabis factory was destroyed in the blaze, Holborn told officers during the initial interview that he had grown 18 mature plants with an estimated worth of around £4,000.

He also said it was the second time he had attempted to grow the crop after a first unsuccessful try, and that the crop was for personal use only.

A total of £118,000-worth of damage was caused to his rented home in the blaze.

Mitigating, Brian Sharman said: "One can almost imagine the surprise of the desk sergeant when Mr Holborn came in [to the police station] and said in effect, 'Please arrest me, I've grown cannabis and my house has caught fire'."

He added that Holborn has been abstinent for the last four months.

"It's enough to frighten the life out of anybody, and certainly this young man who has otherwise lived a respectable and industrious life," he said.

Judge Jonathan Fuller told the defendant: "It strikes me that you have not been in trouble before, save for when you were a juvenile.

"I would have thought somebody like you with the difficulties you had in your teenage years would have cottoned on to the fact that smoking cannabis is not good for a person like you and with your sort of history."

Holborn was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.

He will also complete 250 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £1,200, as well as a victim surcharge.