Foot 'pointed wrong way' after drug farm roof jump

A man who jumped from the roof of a drugs farm in a bid to escape a police raid was left heavily bleeding and with his foot "pointing the wrong way", a court heard.

Juraj Toli, of Enfield, north London, who said he was "forced" to cultivate cannabis to pay off the cost of his travel to the UK from Germany, was one of three men who leapt to evade officers at the former Pagoda nightclub on Carlisle's Lancaster Street on 10 May 2023.

The 30-year-old Albanian national was airlifted to hospital having sustained extensive fractures that required the fitting of surgical screws and plates.

Toli was found guilty at Carlisle Crown Court of cannabis production and sentenced to 30 months in jail.

Officers had swooped on the site after an electrician reported he had been refused access to the upper floor of the then-disused building.

As police raided the farm, three men escaped to the roof.

Despite being urged not to jump, 24-year-old Florian Daci did so. He was followed by Edward Pula, 28.

While those two were not badly hurt, Toli was "heard screaming" after he jumped, prosecutor Olivia Beesley told the court.

"He had blood pouring from an ankle and his foot was pointing the wrong way," she said.

"It also looked as if his left arm was not functioning."

Defence lawyer John Briant said Toli sustained life-changing injuries in his effort to flee.

Daci and Pula admitted cannabis production and were handed two-year prison sentences in 2023, however Toli denied the offence and was convicted after a trial in June.

He spoke of travelling from Germany and being unable to repay the cost of his journey to the UK.

"He said he was forced to work," said Beesley.

"He said he was told if he didn't do the job there would be consequences - he believed his family would be killed."

The court heard police found "multiple kilograms" of cannabis drying at the farm, with the overall street value of the haul estimated to be £4.5m.

"This was the largest farm discovered in Cumbria in 2023 and there has been nothing on this scale since," Beesley said.

Recorder Philip Grundy said drugs were a "blight on our society".

"This court hears such cases on a weekly if not daily basis. The human and economic cost is incalculable."

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