A cannabis farmer caught with plants capable of producing more than £41,000 of the drug has been jailed.

Police found 100 cannabis plants of various stages of development in two bedrooms of the house rented by Darren Steven Jackson, said John Bull, prosecuting.

Recorder Dafydd Enoch QC said: "This is on any view cultivation of cannabis on a highly commercial scale."

He jailed Jackson for two years. Jackson, 29, formerly of Garden Street, Sherburn-in-Elmet, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of cannabis.

On his behalf, solicitor advocate Jane Cooper claimed he had been pressurised into running the cannabis farm by a drug dealer to whom he owed money.

"That doesn't excuse what you did," the judge told Jackson at York Crown Court. "You should have gone out to work, but you didn't, you decided to move into this cannabis farm to attend to these. You did so for a period of several months."

Mr Bull said Jackson was leaving the house as police arrived at 10am on June 11, 2015, with a drugs warrant. He said he had just been watering the plants and unlocked the house for them.

Inside they found 40 plants in the front bedroom capable of producing 1.8 kg of cannabis per crop and 52 more in the back bedroom which would be ready for harvest later and which were capable of producing 2.34 kg per crop. Together, the cannabis would have fetched £41,400 in 1g street deals or £23,680 if sold in ounce lots.

They also found strong lights, hydroponic and other cannabis cultivation equipment.

Mrs Cooper said: "He was effectively used by those higher up the (drug) chain".

He had lost his job when he was jailed for another offence and that had led to him starting to use cocaine, the break-up of his relationships and the loss of his home, she said.

He ran up debts to a drug dealer who offered him the chance to pay them by running the cannabis farm.

Since his arrest, he had reestablished his relationship and found a job with training to become a joiner at £100 a week, she said.

He accepted he had been benefitting financially from the cannabis farm. Mr Bull said the house's rent had been paid in £500 monthly cash instalments and the tenancy agreement, in Jackson's name, had never been signed.