Sheffield mum involved in plot to use drone with fishing lines to smuggle items into Doncaster prison
Fishing lines attached to drone helped to bring material “which should never have been inside a prison” into HMP Lindholme
A Sheffield mum was part of a plot to smuggle items into prison using a drone with fishing lines attached to it.
Rhea Wood and accomplice, Mohammed Abdo, were involved in a scheme where items were flown into HMP Lindholme, Doncaster, where Wood’s partner, Abdullah Mohammed, was serving time.
The trio arranged for items including SD memory cards, SIM cards and mobile phones to be delivered to prison using a drone.
Sentencing Wood and Abdullah Mohammed, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: “The basic scheme was that drones would hover over the prison. There would be a fishing line hanging down from the drone.
“At the end of the fishing line would be a Hovis bag, which would ordinarily contain bread, but on this occasion contained the material which should never have been inside a prison. The items were dropped inside the prison grounds and retrieved.”
Judge Richardson continued: “On some of the material, in particular the SD cards, there was extreme Islamic material.”
The defendants are understood to have arranged for their items to be dropped behind prison walls when a larger package containing drugs was delivered by a third party.
They were not believed to have been involved in the drugs conspiracy.
The court heard how a package “with fishing lines attached” was discovered in the grounds of HMP Lindholme on May 16, 2023.
Exactly a week after the drone drop, Wood shared a social media post from the official wing of ISIS.
Prosecutor Joseph Hudson said analysis of the video showed it represented a “focused and explicit encouragement to support and join the Islamic State.”
It also contained images of “violence and brutality of the most extreme nature including graphic recordings of beheadings,” Mr Hudson said.
Wood was subsequently charged with, and pleaded guilty to, a charge of “recklessly” distributing a terrorist publication.
In October 2025, Wood received a custodial sentence of 27 months for that offence, with a 12-month extended licence period, which is currently ongoing.
Her partner Abdullah Mohammed was behind bars at the time after being jailed for 20 years in 2016 for drug and firearm offences.
He was serving that sentence when the scheme to smuggle the items into prison was hatched.
Wood, Mohammed Abdo and Abdullah Mohammed all pleaded guilty to the offence of conspiring to bring/ throw/ convey a List ' B ' prohibited article into/ out of prison at earlier hearings.
Judge Richardson sentenced Wood, aged 35, of Shoreham Street, near Sheffield city centre, to 18 months’ imprisonment, which will run concurrently to her other sentence.
He said he had taken Wood’s mitigating circumstances, including her guilty pleas and the progress she has made in custody, into consideration when jailing her.
Her partner, Abdullah Mohammed, 33, of Addy Street, Upperthorpe, was sentenced to 18-months, suspended for two years, after Judge Richardson said he had received evidence that the “rigorous” rehabilitation programme he has been subject to since his release from prison has been “exceptionally” successful.
“This is the first time I’ve ever imposed a suspended sentence in a case of this kind. I’m doing so because of the very special circumstances which mean it’s characterised as exceptional,” Judge Richardson said.
Mohammed Abdo aged 36, of Oxford Street, Upperthorpe, was recalled to prison in July 2023 due to a breach of licence conditions.
He pleaded guilty in June 2025, and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment in December 2025.