A gypsy community given more than £1 million in public money to improve their caravan site turned it into a giant cannabis factory.

Police raided the camp and found a well-organised operation capable of producing cannabis with a street value of £250,000 a year.

The site received a government grant of £1.3 million in 2011 to refurbish the site and build a community centre for its 120 residents.

But officials were tipped off that the caravan dwellers were seen buying large amounts of compost and gardening equipment from a local garden centre.

Cannabis was found growing in 12 of the 24 caravan plots on the three-acre Glynmill Gypsy and Traveller Site in Merthyr Tyfdil, south Wales.