A fishmonger told his girlfriend the £20,000 cannabis farm hidden in a tent locked in their spare room was a home gym, a court has heard.

Leszek Gapski, 33, of Arbroath, told police he bought cultivating equipment at a car boot sale and claimed he was going to throw the huge haul of cannabis into the river.

At Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday he admitted growing the class B drug and being concerned in its supply from his home in Brechin over the course of two months in 2017.

The court heard police raided Gapski's home while he was at work in June last year but found only his partner and their three-year-old son at home.

They then stopped Gapski driving nearby, and when they pulled him over he said the plantation had "nothing to do" with his girlfriend and added that he had told her the locked bedroom contained a gym set-up rather than a cannabis farm.

Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie said 38 fully grown plants were found as well as a wealth of cultivation equipment like fans, dehumidifiers and lighting units.

She said: "During interview he said he had purchased all the equipment for £300 from a car boot sale.

"He denied being involved in the distribution of cannabis and said he had learned how to set up all the equipment by reading a book and watching videos on the internet.

"Asked about his intentions he said he was scared because it started to smell and he wanted to get rid of it. He said he would have thrown it in the river."

Ms Gillespie said Gapski had claimed it was "purely coincidental" that police found three bags of cannabis each weighing 28 grams - a standard weight for selling.

Gapski pleaded guilty on indictment to producing and being concerned in the supply of cannabis between April 1 and June 1 last year at an address in Trinity Road, Brechin, Angus.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until July for social work background reports and released Gapski on bail meantime.