Taxi worker jailed after smuggling drugs into prison
MAN CAUGHT ON CAMERA
A TAXI office worker has ended up behind bars after being caught on CCTV handing over drugs to an inmate at a troubled North East prison.
John Appleby smuggled in a small amount of Buprenorphine, a class C drug, into HMP Northumberland while visiting the prison last March.
The 28-year-old dad was captured on CCTV placing the drugs onto a tray, which the inmate then picked up and put down his trousers.
Newcastle Crown Court heard, after the illegal exchange was discovered, Appleby was arrested.
Now, Appleby, of St Martin’s Close, Whitley Bay, has been locked up for nine weeks after pleading guilty to conveying a class C drug into a prison.
Jailing him, Miss Recorder Davies said: “Drugs and indeed mobile phones are a great trouble in prison.
“Drugs in particular are used as currency.
“They can lead to violence, they create fear and are a serious problem.
“Taking controlled drugs into prison is an offence that is so serious that prison is almost inevitable.
“It is sad to see someone like you, who is employed and of good character, in this position.”
Harry Hadfield, prosecuting, said Appleby had no previous convictions and the amount of the drug he smuggled into the prison was small and of low value.
He said a woman who smuggled a phone to the same prisoner during the same visit was given a suspended jail sentence at a earlier hearing.
Mark Styles, defending, said Appleby was not aware of what he was getting himself into when he agreed to the prison visit.
He told the court Appleby was simply handed the package on the way in.
Mr Styles added: “He initially said no but he stupidly took them and went through with them.
“He was left with a stark choice and he made the wrong choice at the last moment.
“He is of good character, a working man.
“He seems to have been taken for a fool by others.” MISS RECORDER DAVIES