GANGLAND THUG MAKES WRONG CALL
sheriff David Bicket reduced the sentence from 12 months to eight because of his guilty plea.
Last December, MSPs backed a new law to allow prison governors to have mobile phone calls in and out of jails blocked.
Just ice Secretary Michael Matheson revealed that more than 1500 phones or parts of phones had been found in prisons between 2013 and 2017.
Special blocking technology was installed at Shotts in May 2016 and, since then, more than 418,000 mobile calls have been intercepted.
The Scottish Prison Service said: “The possession of a mobile phone in prison is a criminal offence. If we receive information to suggest prisoners are in possession of such devices, we’ll take action and report it to the relevant authorities.”
In 2010, it became a crime to smuggle a mobile into jai l but no one has been nabbed as often as Bain. B i
Between October 2011 and September 2013, he was caught six times at three prisons with smuggled devices.
A Shotts prison insider said: “Lifers like Bain don’t really care about the court appearances and extra time on their sentence. For most of them, it’s a day out of jail.”
Pol i t icians ca l led on the Government to get tough on offenders such as Bain.
Daniel Johnson MSP, Labour’s shadow justice spokesman, said: “For many prisoners, the prospect of extra time in prison will serve as an adequate deterrent but the reality is prisoners shouldn’t have access to mobile phones in the first place.”
The Scottish Conservatives’ Liam Kerr said: “It’s baffling how such a serious criminal could repeatedly access phones and SIM cards.”
Sunday Mail