A VIETNAMESE woman who was caught running a cannabis factory in the loft of her rented flat has walked free from court.

Nail technician Ngoc Thi Do, 27, was given a seven-month suspended prison sentence by a judge at Basildon Crown Court.

The mother-of-one, who in unable to speak any English, despite living in the UK for several years, was handed her sentence by Recorder Ian Paton, who warned she would go to prison if she "put a foot wrong" in the next 18 months.

Constantly dabbing her eyes with a tissue, Do sat in the dock next to an interpreter, as she was told she also had to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £250 costs.

In August, Do was found guilty at Southend Crown Court of cultivating cannabis and tampering with the electricity supply.

When police raided her flat in Stromness Road, Southend, they found 103 young cannabis plants growing in the attic.

The factory set-up inside the building also included a cable illegally feeding electricity to 20 lights from a key-paid meter. It was estimated the value of the electricity stolen was about £3,000.

During her trial, Do told the jury she had been offered £1,000 to water the plants by a man she met on the street and she had no idea the plants were cannabis.

But the judge said while she was at the "bottom of the chain" in the operation, these were "absurd lies".

He also urged Do, who now lives in Plaistow, East London, to learn English.