A dad who made tens of thousands of pounds growing cannabis in an industrial unit has been jailed for four years.

Charles Ratke set up in business producing the drug after his electrical company hit hard times.

The 56-year-old converted the unit into a farm with hundreds of plants as well as sophisticated lighting and ventilation.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court today that the enterprise only came to light after a neighbouring unit in Calne was busted by drugs cops.

Officers doing door to door inquiries after raiding the other cannabis farm on the Porte March Industrial Estate were told a similar smell was coming from Ratke’s business.

Police then searched his unit on Harris Road and found four rooms containing a total of 306 plants in various stages of growth.

She said they also found 192 pots containing only used compost which suggested there had either just been a harvest or the plants had been moved on to the next stage.

Also recovered were forty heating lamps, transformers, air filters as well as secateurs and books on horticulture.

Miss Squire said the plants had been stripped of lower leaves suggesting they were being grown to make the powerful skunk cannabis.

She said the crop was thought to be capable of producing 3.9 kilograms which would be worth £11,310.

Investigators also looked at electricity usage over the four years and Ratke’s finances and it was accepted he had made £80,000 over a four year period from his new trade.

When he was arrested he told officers ‘Actually it is a relief; it has been going on for four years since I have been at the premises’.

Ratke, of Manningford Abbots, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and transferring criminal property.

Marcus Davey, defending, said his client took the lease out on the property in 2002 when he had a successful electrical business.

But as he went through marital difficulties he turned to using cannabis which got out of control and led to his company running into trouble.

He said the plants were ‘not top of the range’ and the system he used to grow them relatively unsophisticated.

Mr Davey said his client realised he had brought shame on his daughters and his wife and suffers from depression.

Jailing him Judge David Ticehurst said “You used your experience as an electrician to set up the scheme and produce the cannabis on an industrial basis.

“I ask you rhetorically how you would feel if someone came up to your daughters at the age of eleven and offered them cannabis, cannabis grown on your unit motivated by greed.”

As well as jailing him he also ordered he repay the £91,800 profits from his crime within six months or face a further 18 months in custody.