A MAN aged 32 who pretended to be a teenager when he was caught tending a commercial skunk cannabis farm has been jailed for 18 months.

Vietnamese national Binh Vo gave the police a false name and date of birth after they arrested him hiding in the cellar at the 399-plant grow, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He at first claimed he had been trafficked under the Modern Slavery Act and was aged just 17 but he went on to plead guilty to production of cannabis at the house in Oak Terrace, Halifax.

Prosecutor Clare Walsh said the police forced their way into the property on December 22 last year to find that five rooms had been turned over to the growing of skunk cannabis. The plants were at different levels of maturity and the electricity meter had been bypassed.

Vo said he came to the United Kingdom in the back of a container unit to earn money illegally to send back to his family in Vietnam. He disclosed that the smuggling operation had cost him £20,000.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said Vo was told to live at the house to tend to the plants to ensure the maximum yield from the crop. He must have been expecting some sort of financial gain or reward.

Judge Mansell stated that Vo was performing a limited role under direction and living in pretty squalid accommodation in the house.

He was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds where he had been remanded since his arrest.

Jailing him for 18 months, Judge Mansell told him he was likely to be deported when he had served his sentence.