A 50-year-old man has been jailed after officers found more than 550 cannabis plants worth almost £1 million hidden in a building on Sheppey.

Lee Birch of Minster Road, Minster, was jailed for three and a half years at Maidstone Crown Court after pleading guilty to producing cannabis.

The court heard how officers from Swale’s Community Policing Team went to an industrial building in Railway Terrace, Queenborough on Thursday, March 23 after the smell of cannabis was reported in the area.

Inside the building, officers found 558 cannabis plants, as well as cultivation equipment. Birch was arrested at the scene and later charged.

The drugs were estimated to have a street value of £937,440 - with the plants producing between 15,624 and 46,872 grams of cannabis if they had grown to full maturity.

Abbi Noon, investigating officer, said: "Birch attempted to grow the cannabis in order to make a profit and didn’t care about the consequences or the affect this drug may have had on other people.

"His sentence reflects the scale of this cultivation and I hope the sentence gives him time to reflect on his behaviour."