Police release picture of prison officer jailed for smuggling Co-op bags of cocaine into Doncaster jail
A prison officer has been locked-up after he smuggled thousands of pounds worth of drugs and mobile phones into jail.
Thomas Walls, aged 26, formerly of Zetland Road, Doncaster, was caught by colleagues trying to take a bag into a prison at Doncaster with cocaine, cannabis and MDMA, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing on October 7.
Camille Moorland, prosecuting, said: “At the end of a shift about 7pm he left prison with a prison-issue bag and went to a car and came back a short time later and his bag appeared fuller than when he had left with it and he was challenged.”
The bag contained Co-op bags with cocaine valued at £7,600, cannabis valued at £14,000, MDMA valued between £8,000 to £14,000, and 17 mobile phones, SIM cards and accessories valued between £4,600 and £14,500.
Ms Moorland explained the values of the drugs were based on the mark-up for such contraband within prisons.
Police also discovered £1,000 of cash at the defendant’s home and Walls said he had originally brought just tobacco into prison but things had escalated.
Walls, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing drugs with intent to supply and supplying prohibited mobile phones and accessories from November 26.
The court heard smuggled drugs and phones destabilise prisons by creating unrest, bullying, and criminality as well as allowing prisoners to communicate with criminal associates and with victims and witnesses.
Peter Hampton, defending, said: “It will be an immediate custodial sentence of years and it will have a huge impact upon the defendant and his family.”
He added Walls has expressed remorse after he had been coerced into the offending which had involved a lack of sophistication.
Mr Hampton argued Walls had received little training on how to deal with day-to-day life in prison and he had to work on a violent wing where he did not feel protected.
He said: “There is some remorse. He always admitted involvement and he was always expectng punishment and he knows he has done wrong.”
Judge Graham Reeds QC sentenced Walls to five years and seven months of custody.