A MAN has pleaded guilty to money laundering after a cannabis farm was found in a multi-million pound property in Mere.

Anthony Hilton, 43, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Monday, April 11 where he admitted to a range of charges including theft, fraud and cultivating cannabis in other parts of the UK.

Knutsford police officers first arrested him when they swooped on a six-bedroomed property on Mereside Road on Monday, September 14, 2009.

After being tipped off by a neighbour they found a substantial amount of cannabis in the house. Many of the other houses in the street at the time attracted offers of more than £2million.

Hilton was originally arrested in connection with the discovery of cannabis in Mere but instead was charged with money laundering in relation to the find.

Officers did not charge him with cultivating the cannabis found at the mansion.

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to five charges of money laundering as well as pleading guilty to two counts of fraud and two counts of theft from the Stockport area and one charge of conspiring to cultivate cannabis from a case in Keighley, Yorkshire.

In court he also admitted that he had operated properties in Mold and Uttoxeter where drugs had been kept but at the time of going to press these had not yet been found.

Hilton is due to be sentenced at Chester Crown Court on June 3.