by Alex Claridge

EXCLUSIVE

An art gallery owner from Whitstable has been charged with producing £3.3 million of cannabis at drug factories across east Kent and enslaving two teenagers to work in one as gardeners for him.

John Read, 53, is accused of running factories at a barn in Wootton near Dover, at a property in Coombe Valley Road, Dover, and at a Tesco-owned and sub-let industrial unit on the Joseph Wilson industrial estate in Whitstable.

The married father-of-one faces three counts of conspiracy to produce cannabis and three charges of producing cannabis worth £800,000, £1.4 million and £1.1 million at the three sites.

He appeared at Canterbury Magistrates' Court yesterday where he was also charged with enslaving two Vietnamese teenagers aged 17 and 13 to work as cannabis gardeners at the building in Whitstable and of facilitating the teenagers' travel contrary to immigration law.

The court heard Read lives with his wife and daughter in Marine Parade, Whitstable, and owns Tankart in Tankerton Road.

Magistrates refused Read bail and transferred the case to Canterbury Crown Court where Read is due to appear on Monday, July 5.