A CHINESE illegal immigrant has been cleared of cultivating cannabis at a house in the Chester suburbs after prosecutors failed to prove he knew what the plants were.

A jury at Chester Crown Court returned a unanimous not guilty verdict on Friday after the defendant, Zhou Ming, 46, told the court he understood he was watering flowers.

He was apprehended in a citizen’s arrest at the rented property in Cotebrook Drive, Upton, on May 24.

Ming left a wife and young daughter and paid £20,000 to come to the UK in 2005 so he could earn money to pay off his family’s £20,000 debt.

Giving evidence through an interpreter, Ming said he was paid £700 for 10 days work at the house which involved “decorating” and watering the plants twice a day.

But suspicion was aroused after Ming blacked out the windows and created holes for ventilation ducts and wiring to power heat lamps.

He had said that he thought the lamps were merely for lighting but added: “I accept I knew I was growing a plant in circumstances that were secret. All I knew was that these were valuable plants so they had to be grown in secret.

“If I’d known it was illegal I would’ve run away. I’m not a gardener, I’m a builder.”

He told the court he heard mention from his employers of the drug but did not suspect that was what he had been tending to.

“All I heard was cannabis, cannabis and that it was an illegal drug.”

Ming was arrested after a week and police discovered two mobile phones and £330 cash on him which he said had been payment for looking after the plants.

In a statement, George Hewitt, who jointly owns the Upton house with brother-in-law Steven Jones, said a Mr Soon Tchau Zhang, known as ‘Steve’, had paid a £850 deposit and £850 for one month’s rent saying he wanted the house for him and his parents.

On May 24, Mr Hewitt went round to the house with two electricians to carry out electrical work and on entering via the garage door was greeted by the defendant.

Mr Hewitt became suspicious on noticing the blacked out windows, holes in the walls and electrical fixtures for the cultivation systems which he estimates had caused £1,000 damage.

Leaving the two electricians behind, Mr Hewitt went to fetch his brother-in-law and returned with him just two minutes later having alerted police.

On going upstairs they came upon two other “oriental males”, one aged 40-50 and the other about 17-18. One of the bedrooms was half full of cannabis plants as well as heating and lighting systems.

Mr Hewitt decided he didn’t want to “let them get away with it” and managed to apprehend the defendant – the man he had first stumbled across.

Mr Jones rang his friend Paul Mason, an off duty detective, who arrived at the scene and helped detain Ming in the garage until other officers arrived.

Ming was sentenced to nine months imprisonment – minus 67 days spent on remand – for possession of false identification documents which he admitted paying £100.

He is likely to be deported on completion of his sentence.