HIGH-quality "skunk" worth more than £130,000 was seized from a warehouse, a court heard.

Police busted the "obviously very well tended and very sophisticated cannabis growing factory" in a secure unit on Netherhampton Industrial Estate in February 2014.

They found nearly 400 plants at various stages of development in different rooms, alongside hydroponic equipment, specialist lighting, fans to reduce the smell and thermometers to control the temperature.

Two men, Matthew Biddle and Darren Read, appeared at Winchester Crown Court today, charged with producing a class B drug.

Prosecuting, Mr Charles Thomas described the operation as "successful and productive", producing cannabis of a high quality.

The court heard the drugs seized were worth around £50,000 wholesale, £85,000 when sold by the ounce, or £132,000 as street deals.

Biddle, 35, played a "significant role", the court heard.

He was not only the "gardener", tending the plants, but also the "public face" of the operation, between March 2013 and February 2014.

He ran a car business that was a front for the drugs factory, he rented the premises, and he paid the bills, using profits from the drugs' sale.

For this he was charged with laundering almost £40,000 in illegal gains, which he admitted.

Although not directly involved in selling the drugs himself, Biddle took a tenth of the profit as payment for his work.

Defending, Adam Norris said the former habitual cannabis user was not "some sort of criminal mastermind", but rather was "conned into being the person that would take the fall if things wet wrong".

Biddle "was like a seven-year-old walking into a sweet shop" and "saw it all as a bit of fun and didn't really understand what it was he was he was letting himself in for."

He owed money to his drug-dealer bosses, who were the "controlling mind" of the operation, and never made any real profit for himself, the court heard.

Mr Norris said Biddle was a young man with an "awful lot of promise", and "rock" to his wife, three step children and very young daughter.

Sentencing Biddle to three years in prison, Judge Richard Parkes QC, said: "This is a curious case and a sad case because of what I have learned about the sort of man you are."

He said Biddle was normally a "thoroughly commendable and hard working member of society", and this case was "a very sad lapse" from his usual high standards.

Biddle's co-defendant and close neighbour Darren Read, 52, only visited the unit twice and leant Biddle his car.

He was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for a year, after admitting guilt on the day of his trial.

The defendants, who live two doors apart on Chigwell Road, Bournemouth, shared an embrace in the dock before Biddle was led down to the cells and Read walked free from court.