DIY fanatic who joked to neighbours he had built a 'secret garden' had constructed underground cannabis factory beneath his patio  

David Mundy, of Salford, Greater Manchester, burrowed into land next to his house and built the underground lair

A DIY fanatic who joked he had a 'secret garden' had built a 12ft cannabis factory underneath his patio.

Neighbours were completely unaware, David Mundy, 54, had secretly burrowed into land next to his home and built the underground factory to grow marijuana plants.

The residents of Barr Hill Avenue, Salford, even said he joked about the 'secret garden' when asked about the amount of DIY work he was carrying out.

Police only discovered the underground factory following a tip-off, with a secret entrance that could only be accessed by a set of hidden ladders.

Officers found 17 plants growing in the underground 12ft square lair with a street value of more than £8,000.

Manchester Crown Court heard Mundy had used electricity from his £140,000 semi-detached home to power the shed and used flagstones to cover up the entrance.

There was also a sophisticated hydroponic irrigation system complete with extraction ducts. The electricity supply rigged up to his own home supplied light, water and air filtration.

Mundy was ordered to pay back £13,480 within six months during a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

The married father-of-one was convicted of producing a Class B drug at an earlier hearing and was given a 15 week imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.

If he does not pay back the money with six months, he faces 12 months in jail.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Riddick, of Greater Manchester Police, said: 'Mundy went to considerable lengths - quite literally - to keep his cannabis farm hidden.

'What we discovered was an underground drugs den housed within a storage unit, and must have taken him many hours to build, hours that should have been spent earning his money legitimately like the rest of us do.

'If you think you can bury your criminality underground, you are burying your head in the sand because we will find you and we will do everything we can to take away not only your liberty but also your illegally accumulated wealth.'

Mundy declined to comment at his home and refused to open his front door.

But one neighbour said: 'We couldn't believe it when we heard what had happened.

'He's a bit of a DIY fanatic and we noticed him doing some renovation work because all the flagstones had been taken up and were stored outside his house.

'We asked what he was up to and he cracked some joke about having a secret garden. We were obviously none the wiser at that time as to what he meant by that.

'The amazing thing is no-one had a clue what type of plants he planned to grow in it.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk 05/02/2013