An Albanian cannabis grower living in Oldham broke two vertebrae jumping out of a window in a desperate bid to escape the police, a court had heard.

Admir Hidri, of Mather Street, Failsworth, who used to work as a police officer in Albania, appeared at Minshull Street Crown Court on Wednesday (April 5) for sentence after pleading guilty to producing cannabis.

Prosecutor Lisa Boocock told the court how on December 12 last year police in a thermal image helicopter noticed heat emanating from a house in Failsworth and went to investigate.

On seeing the officers outside Hidri leapt from a first-floor bathroom window in an attempt to flee.

On landing the 23-year-old broke two vertebrae in his back. He was arrested and found to have two phones and £125 cash in his coat pocket.

When interviewed by the police Hidri said he was looking after the cannabis plants to work off a debt and was “in fear for his life”.

The court heard that Hidri had been working as a police officer in Albania when his mother became ill.

To pay for his mother’s treatment Hidri borrowed money from “local criminal figures”.

When he could not pay it back, he agreed to travel to the UK to “look after some plants”.

At the property where Hidri was living in Failsworth police discovered 91 cannabis plants with a street value of £800 per plant and a combined value of around £70,000.

Officers also found a bag of cannabis in the kitchen and discovered that the electricity had been bypassed.

In mitigation, defence barrister Mark Pritchard said Hidri has no previous convictions in the UK and was of “previous good character”.

Mr Pritchard said Hidri had “lost his career” as a police officer back in Albania and was “deeply remorseful” for his actions.

He added that Hidri was given “food and board” and living in conditions “designed to grow cannabis” and not for “human habitation”.

Recorder Ciaran Rankin gave Hidri credit for his guilty plea and acknowledged the points in mitigation and Hidri’s apparent remorse.

He however noted the “sophisticated operation” running at the property where Hidri was living and said Hidri “must have had some awareness of the scale of the operation”.

Recorder Rankin jailed Hidri for two years and six months and ordered the drugs seized at the Failsworth property to be destroyed.