POLICE stumbled on a cannabis factory after forcing their way into a rented unit on an East Dorset industrial estate.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how officers had found 135 cannabis plants, with a street value of up to £37,000, as well as a hydroponic watering system on December 1 last year.

Prosecutor Angela England said the last electricity bill for the unit at the Maple Business Park on Ferndown Industrial Estate had been between £800 and £900.

She added: “That shows the scale of the operation; the plants were at different stages in three separate growing rooms.”

The court heard how the unit had been rented for £3,000 a year by Brendan Kavanagh, 45, from Hesketh Close, St Ives, Ringwood, who admitted producing the class B drug.

Mrs England said police had watched Kavanagh going inside the premises, adding: “He was even wearing a laboratory coat.”

The court was told how Kavanagh had 11 convictions for 16 offences including being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.

Defending Kavanagh, Frank Abbott said the father-of-one “took full responsibility for his actions”, adding: “The enterprise was funded by someone else and he got a 25 per cent share of the profits. He has made frank admissions. It was a shortage of money which led him to do this and he now bitterly regrets it.”

Jailing Kavanagh for three years, Judge Samuel Wiggs told him: “You were running a substantial factory for the production of cannabis.

“This was a commercial operation. It may have been financed by others but you had a significant role.”