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An Albanian crook who hid for eight hours in a loft has been jailed after turning a leafy town's Victorian registry office into a £175,000 cannabis factory. Opened in 1876, the listed building on Park Green in Macclesfield, Cheshire, was first a public library before becoming a wedding venue registry office until closed in 2017.

But on January 19, officers were shocked when they smelt a pong, entered and found the former wedding venue packed full of cannabis plants. For eight hours as officers sealed off the building to start to inspect inside Viktor Ymeralilaj, 31, hid in the loft under a roof beam until he was finally found with a heat sensor and arrested.

Now at Chester Crown Court Ymeralilaj, of no fixed abode, admitted the cultivation of cannabis and was jailed for 16 months.

PC David Noon, of Cheshire Police's Neighbourhood Team, said: "Viktor Ymeralilaj told us that he had been held captive at the former registry office with no means of escape.

"However, the uncovering of several food items within the kitchen area that were still very much in date proved that someone had definitely been out and done their shop very recently.

"The building had been fully converted into a cannabis factory with living quarters, with the intention of producing the drug on a large scale, and we estimate the approximate street value of the cannabis we found to be worth upwards of £175,000."

The court heard that at around 9am on Monday, January 19 police in Macclesfield conducted a warrant at a former registry office on Park Green in the centre of the town.

The building - consisting of a cellar, first and second floors, and a loft area - was derelict and had subsequently been boarded up for some time, making access inside the property considerably difficult.

Cheshire Police said: "However, once inside the property, officers located four separate rooms on the ground floor containing fully grown cannabis plants.

"It quickly became clear to officers that the building had been converted into a largescale cannabis factory and that a number of people had been living there.

"Further searches resulted in officers finding fresh food items inside a kitchen area, several beds, a washing machine, and items of clothing hung up and drying.

"A radiator in one of the sleeping areas was also found to be still warm, indicating that someone had been there recently."

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Due to the size of the property, the search continued across the day and at around 5pm an officer with a thermal heat gun found a trace of heat located in the loft area.

Inside was Ymeralilaj, who was found crouched behind a roof beam.

Police added: "He was subsequently brought into custody and whilst being taken to a cell he told officers he had been held at the cannabis farm against his will.

"During his interview he maintained that he had been held at the farm against his will by two men who employed him to feed and water the plants.

"He went on to say that he had last seen these men around three weeks prior and that he had been locked inside the building to tend to the cannabis ever since."

However, despite his protests, he was subsequently charged with the offence.

PC Noon said: "That cannabis has now been destroyed and the closure of this largescale operation will deal a considerable blow to the local drug trade, which I welcome.

"With that said, however, we rely on information from the public to help us locate and shut down operations such as this.

"So, I would urge anyone with any concerns or information about the cultivation or facilitation of drugs in their area to please contact their local beat team and leave the rest to us and our big red keys."