by Brian Horne A FORMER restaurant boss who helped run a cannabis farm has been jailed for three years and nine months for his part in the operation.

by Brian Horne A FORMER restaurant boss who helped run a cannabis farm has been jailed for three years and nine months for his part in the operation.

A court heard that Sai Yau Shek, 53, was under pressure from loan sharks.

At first he thought that he was being asked to find housing for Vietnamese refugees.

However, when he found out the truth he failed to alert police to what was going on at two addresses in Ayrshire.

Police raids on the flats in Kilmarnock and Newmilns in September 2006 netted a total of 538 cannabis plants producing a crop which drug experts said could have been worth up to £150,000.

He was appearing at the High Court in Edinburgh for sentence.

At an earlier hearing, Shek had admitted producing the drug at a house in Kilmarnock and one at Ladeside, Newmilns, and to being concerned in the supply of the drug.

The court was told Shek arrived in the UK from Hong Kong in 1975 and had worked hard to build up a restaurant business in Ayrshire.

Gambler Shek later split from his wife, lost contact with his children and things had got so bad by the time of the offences he was living in his car.

He borrowed £16,000 from a money lender at the exorbitant interest rate of 8% a week. He was also facing a demand for £1600 from the Child Support Agency, the court heard.

Shek was approached by a mystery man whose phone number was stored in Shek's mobile, but who had not been traced.

He offered money for accommodation and Shek rented out the flats on his behalf.

Shek claimed that when he first saw plants growing at the addresses he thought it was something to do with Chinese herbal medicine.

The court also heard when something was needed for the growing operation, Shek would be sent to get it.

Shek had made nothing out of his part in the scheme and was still afraid of the people who had loaned him money.

In sentencing him, Lord Menzies told Shek: "The growing of cannabis in the UK is an increasing problem and the courts have a duty to make it clear that this conduct will not be tolerated."

The judge said he was also taking into account that Shek was a first offender who had admitted what he had done.

"Until now you appear to have been a hard- working, useful member of society," the judge added.