AN illegal immigrant living in Colchester, who helped set up a series of cannabis factories, has had his pleas for a lighter sentence thrown out by top judges.

Wen Xian Lin, of New Kiln Road, was jailed for four years and two months at Liverpool Crown Court in December 2009 after admitting two counts of conspiracy to produce cannabis.

But the Chinese national brought his case to the Court of Appeal, claiming he needed to get out of prison early to look after his children in the Far East.

However, three senior judges said the sentence was entirely appropriate considering the scale of drugs factories, and dismissed the appeal.

Judge Peter Rook QC told the court Lin, 32, was one of a number of Chinese immigrants arrested in May 2009 for setting up 13 cannabis farms around Liverpool.

Most of the factories contained between 250 and 350 “skunk” cannabis plants, but the factory in which Lin was most involved, in Seaport Street, had 690 plants.

The judge said this factory alone produced cannabis with a street value of £169,000 but, taken together, the farms produced nearly £1million worth of the drug.

Lin was also in the UK illegally having stayed beyond the period on his visa.

The prosecution case said that Lin had taken the role of "manager or organiser".

But, in a letter to the Appeal Court, Lin claimed he had merely been a gardener at the sites and had been drawn into the plot unwittingly. He also said he needed to get back to China because his wife had died, leaving his two children in need of his care.

However, Judge Rook said the original sentence was appropriate considering the scale of the network.