Prisoner was caught on the toilet with mobile phone

A prisoner who was serving a sentence for drug dealing was caught by custody officers using a mobile phone on the toilet in his cell.

Cameron Jones was startled when officers using a mobile phone detection device abruptly pulled back the curtain and found him sitting on the toilet with the phone in his hand.

Speaking at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Thomas Stanway said: “He dropped the item into the toilet bowl and refused to stand up.”

The court heard the incident happened at HM Parc Prison in Coity, Bridgend, on December 2 last year. Mr Stanway said two custody officers went into the defendant’s cell when their detecting device indicated there was a phone inside.

The court heard one prisoner was on the top bunk and Jones was in the toilet area so an officer pulled back the curtain. Prosecutors said that Jones dropped the phone into the bowl and refused to get up so was removed “with force” from the lavatory. The defendant and his cellmate both denied that the item belonged to them.

In his interview Jones said it belonged to a prisoner who had been painting his cell that day.

The court heard he is currently serving a 45-month sentence passed in April 2018 for possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Jones, 25, from Merthyr Tydfil, admitted possessing a mobile phone in prison.

Andrew Davies, defending, said the phone did not belong to his client – he used it once to call his partner after an argument. Prosecutors accepted the phone did not belong to him.

Judge David Wynn Morgan jailed him for 12 months on top of the term he is already serving. He will have to serve half of the new sentence before he can be released on licence.

An order was made for the phone to be destroyed.