A FORMER fugitive accused of bankrolling a massive skunk cannabis factory at an airfield near Selby has pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Today, more than four years after going on the run, Michael Walsh was in custody and facing a lengthy jail term.

The factory in which he allegedly invested £25,000 to set up, was capable of producing around £1 million-worth of drugs a year. Police believed it could have doubled in size very quickly.

National Crime Squad officers seized £410,000-worth of high strength cannabis plants growing inside a 400m-long converted Second World War aircraft hanger, next to a private aero strip at the Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate, in March 2000.

Walsh, 63, formerly of The Grange, Breighton, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of a controlled drug between September 1, 1999, and March 27, 2000.

He was watched by National Crime Squad detectives, who tracked him down to Spain, as he sat through a 30-minute hearing.

He spoke only to plead guilty to a single charge as it was read to him.

His barrister, Andrew Dallas, said Walsh made a guilty plea after listening to evidence of covert telephone taps at his house and in his business unit at Breighton.

In hearings in 2001, Hull Crown Court heard the raid on Unit 10 of the Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate on March 27, 2000, led to the arrest of four men - one of whom was Michael Walsh, then 58.

He failed to turn up for a court appearance and fled to Spain.

The officers found 1,045 powerful "skunk" cannabis plants growing underneath lights in a 24-hour-a-day factory propagating and drying system.

The remote location next to a private flying club was penetrated by police using covert surveillance, with video filming and phone taps over a period of six months.

Officers from the northern area unit monitored the plant being assembled and then going into production.

In September 2001, John Kelly, 39, of Sands Lane, Breighton, and Andrew Markham, 38, of Martin Road, Ulceby, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of cannabis at the factory between September 1, 1999, and March 27, 2000. Kelly also pleaded guilty to the possession of a CS gas canister spray.

Kelly was sentenced to six years in prison and Markham was given a six-and-a-half-year jail term.

Richard Mansell, prosecuting, said he did not accept Walsh's basis of plea, but did not seek a trial. Rather he wanted a two-day "Newton" hearing when a judge will decide the extent of Walsh's involvement in the operation and his final sentence.

Judge Tom Cracknell told Walsh he would be remanded in custody for a date to be fixed at Hull Crown Court for the Newton hearing.

Updated: 09:40 Wednesday, October 19, 2005