Mum caught attempting to smuggle drugs to jail
A MOTHER was caught by a sniffer dog attempting to smuggle cannabis into prison for a friend.
Emma Curnow, 38, was stopped as she tried to enter HMP Parc in Bridgend on January 9 after staff gained intelligence that she would be carrying drugs on her person.
She was searched and a sniffer dog recognised the smell of drugs on her, so she was taken to a side room.
When asked if she was concealing anything, Curnow reached down to the front of her jeans and pulled out a small package wrapped in clingfilm, which was later found to contain 22g of cannabis with a prison value between £440 and £1,600.
Officers searched her home in St David’s Avenue, Llantwit Major, and found a black bag which also contained cannabis.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Curnow was approached by an unknown man in Barry who gave her the package and told her to give it to her friend Melvyn Chesaites on her next prison visit.
She said she felt intimidated by the man and was “frightened” and “scared”.
She decided to take a look inside the package and saw what she believed to be cannabis.
When she spoke to Mr Chesaites by phone, he asked her to bring the package as he needed to pay off a debt.
Despite having misgivings, the court heard Curnow decided to go ahead with the plan due to fears for herself and her eight-year-old son. She later pleaded guilty to conveying a prohibited item into prison.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Fitton QC told the defendant he would not be sending her to prison as her son “did not deserve to be deprived of her”.
Curnow was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
She was also ordered to carry out a 12-day rehabilitation activity requirement, complete 120 hours’ unpaid work and pay £200 court costs.