The caretaker of a Bristol council flat sub-let it to cannabis growers to help pay for his crack cocaine addiction.

Yousef Khan, 61, was worried about the cannabis factory, but the drug gang threatened to report him for sub-letting and drug abuse if he told police about them.

Khan, who has since lost his job at Brandon House, Jacobs Wells Road, but kept his flat there, pleaded guilty to permitting premises to be used for the production of cannabis.

A Bristol judge ordered him to do 80 hours community service over the next year.

Khan sub-let the flat for £50 a week. He admitted to police that he was addicted to crack cocaine and would come into contact with people who were "less than desirable".

The flat was turned into a cannabis factory in which police discovered 17 large plants and 55 seedlings, calculated to produce a cannabis bush yield of 143g.

Judge Michael Longman ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and drugs paraphernalia.

The court heard Khan had previous convictions, but that his last court appearance was in 1997.

Jason Taylor, defending, said: "Mr Khan, being 61, is perhaps not the average person before the courts for this offence.

"He is an agreeable character, a pleasure to deal with, mild-mannered and polite.

"I would say, though, he is vulnerable to more strong-minded individuals."

Mr Taylor stressed that Khan sub-let the flat for extra income without realising what use it would be put to – and was unable to tell police because the drug gang threatened him over the sub-letting and his drug addiction.

"He was between the devil and the deep blue sea until someone else discovered it," he said.

"Mr Khan has now sorted his life out and has rid himself of Class A addiction."

Judge Longman told him: "Cannabis is an unlawful drug and cultivating it is a serious offence.

"The fact that you were permitting cultivation doesn't make much difference.

"But this was not a major operation. There was a relatively small amount of the drug and you only knew about it for a very short space of time."

The Bristol court heard the case made Khan keen to improve his behaviour and his risk of reoffending was assessed at low.