Cannabis mansion cook is jailed

A cook who prepared meals for criminals growing 1,000 cannabis plants in a £1 million West Midlands mansion has been locked up.

Hoai Tran was jailed for 21 months for her part in the drug-growing operation at the six-bedroom home in Roman Road, Little Aston - an area often referred to as Millionaires' Row.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, the 26-year-old, of no fixed address, was told she would be deported back to her native Vietnam after completing the sentence.

Prosecutor Malcolm Morse: "She was found with two Vietnamese men at a property being used for the cultivation of cannabis in four of its rooms. There were 1,000 plants."

Tran was arrested in March after police raided the mansion. Police also found her fingerprints on a cup during a separate raid at a house in Bloxwich Road, Walsall, where 145 cannabis plants were growing.

Mr Morse added: "She said that she had only visited there once which may or may not be true but the house had only been let by the landlord three days before it was raided.

"She had knowledge of more than one premises being used for this purpose."

Oliver Woodhouse, defending, said it was a "familiar tale" of somebody coming to England only to discover the roads were not paved with gold.

Mr Woodhouse said Tran had resorted to crime after being smuggled into the UK from Russia.

At yesterday's hearing, she admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis.

Judge Martin Walsh said: "You were a relatively small cog in a large machine involved in the commercial cultivation of cannabis.

"You were effectively a knowledgeable housekeeper to the gardeners."