A 35-year-old man has been found guilty, and a 37-year-old man acquitted of producing cannabis after police uncovered a factory of more than 1,000 plants at an old care home.
Larry St Ange was convicted by a jury on Wednesday following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
He had denied production of a class B drug after police 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.
St Ange, of Shepherd’s Bush Road, Hammersmith, claimed he was threatened into tending to the plants.
Ali Acer, of Bodney Road, London, also denied the charge, claiming he was only there to fix the electricity, and was cleared by jurors on Wednesday.
A third man, Erdal Ozmen, 40, of Broadway Mews, in Clapton Common, admitted the same charge and will be sentenced, along with St Ange, at the end of the week.
St Ange was released on conditional bail until his sentencing.
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