In three separate cases, people have been convicted or sentenced for smuggling contraband into men’s prisons in England.
In the first case, a prisoner who formed an illicit sexual relationship with an officer at HMP Five Wells and encouraged her to smuggle drugs, tobacco and mobile phones into the jail for him had his sentence extended. The woman was aged 18 when she began working at Five Wells in July 2024, and she was arrested only five months later. In January this year the man was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, but the sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal as ‘unduly lenient’, and the appeal court increased it to five years. The new term will begin when the man’s present sentence ends in 2029.
In the second case, three men have been convicted of attempting to convey SD cards and USB sticks into HMP Lindholme. On 16 May 2023, prison officers discovered a bread bag with illicit items in it in the yard of the prison. The bag had been delivered by drone. The SD cards were examined and found to contain Islamic material of an extreme nature. The case was extensively investigated by specialist officers at Counter Terrorism Policing Northeast and prosecuted by the Yorkshire and Humberside Complex Casework Unit. The three will be sentenced at the end of July.
The third case involved two men who flew a drone over a prison to drop off drugs. Police responded to a drone incursion at HMP Lowdham Grange on 5 September 2023. CCTV footage showed a package being dropped into the grounds shortly after 4pm. Prison staff recovered the package and found it contained cannabis resin, deal bags and larger bags of cannabis, and a mobile phone. The two men were identified and arrested, and each received sentences of two years and three months.
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