A BUILDER who fell on hard times in the recession and agreed to front a drugs factory to make ends meet has been jailed for three years.

Kevin Gilbert, 48, a grandfather-of-three, with no previous convictions, looked shocked as he was led from the dock at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Gilbert agreed to front a drugs factory for a criminal gang after he was laid off from his job and left struggling to support his family during the economic downturn, the court heard.

Gilbert rented a £1,000-a-month industrial unit in Vanguard Way, Shoebury, in September last year, and ran a mock business in the front office while he tended to rows of cannabis plants out the back.

He was arrested following a police raid at the premises in April this year, during which 76 cannabis plants and 61 cuttings were seized.

Police stumbled upon the cannabis plants after finding a secret room, described at the time as a drugs Narnia, through a false door at the back of a cupboard in the warehouse.

Through the secret passageway police found a sea of cannabis plants, a crate full of herbal cannabis, and sapling plants growing in incubators.

Gilbert refused to name the other people involved in the operation, and told police he was essentially a hired gardener in the venture. His long-term partner and three grown-up children were “mortified” and “ashamed” to learn of his involvement, the court heard.

Recorder Nigel Peters said it was clear Gilbert was not the “prime mover” in the operation, but said he was a “knowing front man”.

He said: “I accept you were doing this at the behest of others who you have not named. But you knew the premises was being used to grow cannabis and stood to make a considerable financial gain after the drug was harvested.”

Gilbert, of Mansel Close, Leigh, admitted two counts of producing cannabis at an earlier hearing.

He was told he would serve at least 18 months of his sentence, and will be released on licence.