A CANNABIS factory in Derbyshire could have produced drugs with a street value of more than £130,000, a court was told.

Police found 133 young plants in a large metal container at a farm in Hulland Village, near Ashbourne.

Derby Crown Court was told that, although the plants had not produced any drugs, they could have yielded four crops a year, which would have been worth £134,000.

Darren Cole pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, possession with intent to supply and abstracting electricity.

Judge John Wait said the operation had been designed for significant commercial gain and had been expected to make substantial profits for the people behind it.

But he accepted that Cole would not have benefited from the set-up at Lower Moss Farm. Jailing him for a year, Judge Wait told him: "I hope that after this, you can use your undoubted talents honestly."

Richard Kenward, prosecuting, said that, when police raided the farm on March 27 they found a power cable going to a caravan and to the container.

He said Cole told officers he lived in the caravan and, when it was searched, a key that opened a padlock on the container was found.

When police went inside, they found plastic sheeting had been pinned up and cannabis plants ranging in height 3cm to 11cm growing.

He said an electrician described the wiring as amateurish and dangerous and that Cole's fingerprints were found inside the container.

The court heard that the 22-year-old from Leeds was only acting as a gardener and was paid £20 a week.

Christopher Dunn, in mitigation, said Cole had been in debt to a drugs supplier after he had been released from an earlier sentence and had been put in to set up the Ashbourne operation.

Mr Dunn said: "For a young lad of 22, he has got himself into a lot of trouble.

"But it's not too late to snap him out of it or for him to snap himself out of it."