Tanya Laverty, a Liverpool charity volunteer, got the shock of her life when she came back from a world tour and found her house turned into a massive cannabis farm, with at least 200 plants, by criminals. If estimations are correct, the farm had the potential of minting around £800,000 (more than $1.12 million) per year.
Tanya was quoted by liverpoolecho.co.uk as saying that she had rented out the house to a South Korean family in September last year before she embarked on a world trip, and even reduced the rent after meeting the parents' baby.
Tanya, who used to run a meal center for the homeless, became suspicious for the first time when she stopped receiving from this family.
She returned home from Asia after her boyfriend's mom, who went to check the house in Wavertree, spotted a hosepipe running up the stairs when she peeked through the letterbox.
When she came back home in February and opened the doors, she jumped out of her skin on seeing the house covered in weed plants.
"I didn't even go upstairs... I just started crying. I was in bits. I was shocked, jet lagged and haven't really got over it since," she said, according to liverpoolecho.co.uk.
"It was a massive, massive grow. It's not like they just came in and did whatever. It's just awful. My life is completely trashed, my heart is broken," she said.
There were plants in every room, with ventilation ducts cut out through the floors to the rooms below.
To avoid getting caught, the criminals did not use the front room so that neighbors or passers-by would not notice anything suspicious.
Automatic lights, which would switch on in the evening and switch off at night, were installed to lead people into believing a family was living in the house.
"The police came around. They sat me down as I was having a panic attack. They came and did what they needed to and sent me a message the next day and said they were going to hand the house back over," she said.
Tanya will now require at least £10,000 to fix the damages, and with her rental income gone, it is looking difficult.
"I don't have enough money to stay here...This is because of what's happened. These people were supposed to be paying my rent. I've had to do it for January, February... my bank just went if you miss one more payment they may repossess my house," she was quoted as saying by the website.
She is now seeking help to repair her home. "It would be amazing. I know there's people [who are willing to help] out there because I have been one of them. I know there are beautiful people out there. Just imagine if I lost my house because of this," she said.
