Drone caught cannabis gardener as he hid behind shed in Wellingborough

Oltjon Lleshi was arrested when police raided a property in Eastfield Road last year and found drugs worth up to £55,000.

He spent almost six months in custody and is now likely to be deported back to Albania after effectively already serving his 46-week prison sentence, which was handed to him on Friday (June 21).

Northampton Crown Court heard Lleshi jumped from the window of the property after police heard noise when they visited at 10.45am on December 27 last year.

The 30-year-old and a second man who also fled the property ran towards a nearby home, going up the drive in an attempt to flee.

Prosecutor Ben Gow said: “Police used a drone with heat-seeking facilities which located the men hiding behind a shed in the rear garden on a nearby street.”

Lleshi, of no fixed address, was arrested as he tried to run. Northamptonshire Police say a second man is still under investigation.

A search of the home found 73 cannabis plants, valued at between £33,000 and £55,000, and Lleshi’s fingerprints on garden shears.

The court heard Lleshi, who pleaded guilty to producing a class B drug, told police he came to the UK illegally a couple of years ago and had been living with his girlfriend.

Mitigating, Lewis Perry said Lleshi made no financial gain from the criminal activity and had only been involved for a week or so, having been asked by others to do so.

His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo jailed Lleshi for 46 weeks with half to be spent in custody, a sentence which he has already effectively served having been held on remand since his arrest in December.

The court heard it is likely he will be kept in detention before being removed back to Albania.