Prosecutors dropped charges against an alleged cannabis farmer.

Nhot Ntuyen claimed he’d been grabbed off the street and made to work in a drugs farm in Oxford.

The 29-year-old's case came back before Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday July 20.

Prosecutor Nathalie Carter said: “This matter is due for trial July 28. Last week the prosecution had cause to review the matter and discussions between the officer in the case, myself and trial counsel and the lawyer. It’s been agreed there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.

“Mr Ntuyen was a gardener in the cannabis factory. He raised modern slavery defence from the very beginning. The prosecution do not accept his full explanation of how he came to be at the property."

The police had obtained further information about two people, who were not named in court. The prosecutor said that information may have led the jury to take a ‘sympathetic’ view towards the defendant.

Formally offering no evidence, Ms Carter said: “The position is that Mr Ntuyen may well have been coerced to a certain extent but we don’t accept he was grabbed from the street.”

Judge Ian Pringle QC recorded a formal not guilty verdict.

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