Vietnamese national Duc-Thanh Ho, 39, was caught after police raided the London Road address.

Officers seized hydroponics equipment from two rooms in the property and a total of 246 cannabis plants.

Ho was arrested and pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of a class C drug.

Prosecutor Gabrielle Henty told Lewes Crown Court how police carried out a search of the house on March 20 this year.

She said: "Officers found that the electric meter had been bypassed and there were hydroponics equipment in two rooms of the house.
"There were also 246 cannabis plants being cultivated using water pumped from the bath."

Defending, Kelly German told the court Ho was a married father of two sons aged 13 and four.

She said: "According to him he left Vietnam about seven years ago and went to live in Hungary.

"He tells me he was working there legally for six years and had a visa. He and his wife were both working extremely long hours and were unable to care for their sons.

"The sons are in Vietnam with their grandmother and it seems that Mr Ho returned to Vietnam for a short while between December last year and January.

"He was then making his way back to Hungary and lost his passport. It seems he fell in with some bad company.

"He is adamant that he never really wished to come to the UK but found himself in the back of a lorry coming to this country accompanied by two African men.

"He was offered a job by a man in London and was sent to the property in London Road. He was simply taken there and told to stay inside and care for the plants.

"He states he had never seen plants of that nature before going to the house but knows what he did was wrong.

"He was told how to water them and how to operate the lights and was promised payment of £60 a week.

"He tells me that this money never materialised so he received no financial reward in the end for being involved in this offence."

Judge David Rennie jailed Ho for 90 days and made a recommendation that he be deported upon his release from prison.