Woman was the brains behind one of county's first cannabis farms SHE was dubbed "Miss Boss" by her fellow gang members.

Ha Nguyen, 35, was the brains behind one of Hampshire's first cannabis factories.

Today she was starting a ten-year jail sentence.

Nguyen grew more than 400 cannabis plants with a potential street value of up to £40,000 by converting a property in Fair Oak into a drugs production line.

During the trial, jurors were shown a police video of the house on Eastleigh Road, which showed the extent of the operation.

The tour started on the ground floor and ended in the attic where plant-growing instructions were discovered written in Vietnamese.

The property was decked out with high-powered lighting, fertiliser bags and hundreds of plants capable of creating the more powerful skunk cannabis.

Nguyen sobbed as Judge Tom Longbotham passed his lengthy sentence at Southampton Crown Court.

She denied conspiring to produce the class C drug along with a host of other charges including dishonestly obtaining a mortgage and two counts of converting criminal property.

Two co-defendants Giang Bui, 26 and Cuong Quach, 36, also denied conspiring to produce cannabis but were found guilty and sentenced to six years and five years in jail respectively.

Bui, however, was found not guilty of converting criminal property while Quach was not charged with the offence.

The court heard how Nguyen had acted as the ringleader for the group and that Quach had acted as a "gardener" in the operation.

Jurors were also told that the Eastleigh Road factory was one of three in the area.

The others, in Leigh Road and Westwood Road, had been stripped and re-carpeted by the time police discovered them but still contained evidence of cannabis production.

Handing his sentence out to Nguyen, Judge Longbotham said: "Mr Bui referred to you as "Miss Boss".

In many ways it is an appropriate description."

It is clear that this was a very substantial and very profitable wholesale production."

After the hearing, the officer in charge of the case said the stern sentence reflected the serious nature of the offence.

Detective Constable Nikke Lewis said: "This certainly sends out a message.

Without a doubt it reflects Miss Nguyen's involvement in organised crime and the other two defendants who worked with her in the production of cannabis."

This was one of the first substantial cannabis factories in Hampshire."

Not only was Nguyen involved in drug production but was clearly a financier in a number of other factories and she was high up in the chain."

Police intend to continue to try and eradicate this kind of activity."