Two men have been jailed for a total of six-and-a-half years for producing more than 1,000 cannabis plants at an old care home.
Larry St Ange was convicted by a jury on Wednesday following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
The 35-year-old had denied production of a class B drug after police discovered a cannabis factory across several floors of the former Old Rectory Care Home, in Spring Lane, Lexden, just outside Colchester, at the beginning of January.
Erdal Ozmen, 41, admitted the same charge before the trial began.
A third man, Ali Acer, of Bodney Road, London, denied the charge, claiming he was only there to fix the electricity.He was cleared by jurors on Wednesday.
St Ange, of Shepherd’s Bush Road, in Hammersmith, who had claimed he was threatened into tending to the plants, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Ozmen, of Broadway Mews, Clapton Common, received a term of four years.
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