'Gardener' jailed after £1.4million cannabis grow found at Somerset castle

A ‘gardener’ has been jailed after £1.4million worth of cannabis was found at an aristocrat's castle in Somerset.

Trung Pham was found living at Woodlands Castle in Taunton when police raided the lavish property earlier this year.

They discovered it had been turned into an enormous cannabis factory, with almost every room filled with plants in various stages of growth.

One expert said it was the biggest grow he had ever seen, with the drugs said to be worth around £1.4million.

Pham, 40, claimed he had been kidnapped by the Vietnamese mafia and forced to cook and clean at the castle.

But a jury at Taunton Crown Court found him guilty of being concerned in the production of cannabis and he was jailed for three years.

‘Largest in Somerset’

Mr Peter Collins, a former police officer and drug lead expert for Avon and Somerset Police, described the set-up as 'sophisticated'.

There were 547 lights, almost £8,000 of soil and nearly 2,000 fabric plant pots. He said it would have cost about £100,000 to buy all the equipment and set it up.

"This growing factory is by far the largest we've discovered in Somerset in all my time," he said.

The issue in the trial was whether Pham was forced to work as a slave or employed as a gardener by the criminal gang.

Defence barristers argued the 40-year-old merely tended to the plants and was at the bottom of the criminal chain of command.

Judge James Townsend said there were factors for and against the defendant.

"Against you is the fact you've done this before and that you were on licence from prison at the time you committed this offence,” he said.

Pham will serve half of his sentence in prison and then have his UK status investigated by immigration authorities.

The castle is owned by Sir Benjamin Slade. He has not been charged with any offence.