'All too much of this!' Judge laments Telford cannabis farms as teenager is sentenced after £87,000 raid

Judge Peter Barrie lamented the situation as he told 19-year-old Agim Gjorgji of his fate at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Gjorgji was looking after plants at the grow in Churncote, Stirchley, when police burst in at 8.50am on July 20 last year.

Officers found 104 plants in total at various levels of maturity. Four rooms were set up with growing equipment and lighting.

Dean Easthope, prosecuting, told the court that the plants would have yielded up to 8.7kg of cannabis that could be sold, with a top end value of £87,360.

Gjorgji was found in a bedroom upstairs during the raid, with £125 in cash and a makeshift weapon comprising a kitchen knife strapped to a broom handle.

He told police officers that he had come to the UK illegally from Albania when he was 14, had got himself into debt and was made to look after the grow. He refused to let officers access his mobile phone.

Gjorgji, of Mulgrave Road, Croydon, Surrey, pleaded guilty to one count of producing a controlled drug of Class B.

Debra White, mitigating, said: "It is clear that from the lifestyle he led at that young age, he has been subject to exploitation."

Judge Peter Barrie told Gjorgji: "You were in charge of looking after them (the plants). You were not being kept against your will.

"The size of the production which was established was certainly capable of producing cannabis for commercial use.

"There is all too much of this kind of enterprise in Telford."

Judge Barrie handed Gjorgji a 12-month sentence in a young offenders' institute. Due to the time Gjorgji has already spent in custody, he was expected to be released on license following enquiries to the Home Office on his immigration status.

Judge Barrie also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and for the £125 to be confiscated.