Man and woman found tending to half-a-million-pound cannabis farm at Leeds home

By Nick Frame
Published 17th Oct 2023, 04:45 BST
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A man and woman were found by police during a Leeds house raid to be tending to a lucrative cannabis farm potentially worth more than half-a-million pounds.

Officers raided the end-terrace property on Garton Terrace on Richmond Hill on April 18 where they found Isa Hotaj and Toni Broughton inside. Leeds Crown Court heard that 43-year-old Broughton was “crying hysterically”, and 29-year-old Hotaj was found to have £640 cash on him.

More than 290 cannabis plants were found across four floors, along with the professional set-up of lamps, filters and fans to ensure the plants grow. There was also plastic sheets across the windows and floor. Experts said the crop was capable of producing a yield of almost 55kg of the drugs, worth between £330,000 wholesale, or £550,000 if sold in individual deals on the streets.

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They both gave a no-comment police interview, but Broughton claimed she was from the Warrington area in Lancashire and had been forced to go the address in Leeds after her and her family were threatened.

Hotaj was jailed for 22 months for his part in the lucrative cannabis operation at the end-terrace property on Garton Terrace. (pics by WYP / Google Maps)Hotaj was jailed for 22 months for his part in the lucrative cannabis operation at the end-terrace property on Garton Terrace. (pics by WYP / Google Maps)
Hotaj was jailed for 22 months for his part in the lucrative cannabis operation at the end-terrace property on Garton Terrace. (pics by WYP / Google Maps)

They both admitted an offence of producing cannabis. No mitigation was offered by either defendants’ barristers after Judge Ray Singh proposed to jail the pair for the minimum amount of time he could.

Hotaj was given 22 months’ jail after the judge said he played a “more significant role” in the operation. Broughton was given six months’ jail for her lesser role, which means she would be eligible to be released, having spent the past six months on remand at HMP New Hall.