A MAN who created a cannabis factory in a luxury £700,000 house in Blackburn has been jailed.

Preston Crown Court heard Gia Pham was caught after police raided the five-bedroom detached property in Woodgates Road and uncovered 450 plants, as well as cultivation equipment.

The Edwardian house, which has views over Pendle Hill, was last listed for sale in July 2011 for £690,000.

Prosecutors said the upmarket house had been rented specifically to grow the drugs, which had an estimated street value of £180,000.

The court heard numerous rooms throughout the house, which had a synthetic putting green, had been used for the farm. Prosecutors said police were made aware of the crime after concerned residents reported suspicious activity to them.

They told the neighbourhood policing team that the windows had been blacked out and the curtains had been closed for a long time, the court heard.

Doors had been removed and sealant put around the windows to ensure ideal growing conditions, prosecutors said.

Staff from United Utilities also had to visit the scene as electricity had been bypassed.

Pham, 20, of no fixed abode was jailed for eight months by Judge Andrew Woolman.

He pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and abstracting electricity.