Drug smuggler mum avoids jail
SON TOLD HER HE’D BE ATTACKED IF SHE DIDN’T HELP HIM
A MUM has narrowly avoided her own stint behind bars after trying to smuggle drugs into a troubled prison for her son.
Melissa Percival was caught carrying cocaine and buprenorphine when she was searched as she visited HMP Northumberland in the days before Christmas.
The 43-year-old claimed her son had piled on the emotional pressure by telling her he would get “done in and sliced up” if she didn’t bring the drugs in for him, a court was told.
Percival, of Holywell Road, North Shields, had been warned she faced her own jail term after she admitted one count of conveying the drugs, a list ‘A’ prohibited article, into a prison at Newcastle Crown Court.
But, having heard of the mum’s troubled background and mental health issues, Judge Penny Moreland decided to suspend her sentence.
Judge Moreland told her: “Your son was very wrong to pressure you to commit this offence.
“You must resist any pressure put on you in the future because, if you commit any offence, you will serve this sentence in custody.”
The court heard Percival, who has 25 past convictions for 43 offences, visited her son at HMP Northumberland on December 15 last year.
When entering the prison and going through the routine searches, she was found to be carrying 4.7g of cocaine and 34 buprenorphine tablets. Prosecutor Neil Pallister said: “When interviewed, she accepted taking the drugs into the prison but said she had been told by her son he would be “done in and sliced up” unless she took the drugs in for him.
“She said she was reluctant to do so but, because of her own difficult circumstances, she didn’t want to see her son beaten up.”
Robin Patton, defending, said Percival suffered from significant mental health issues. He said: “Her son bears a great deal of responsibility for the position she finds herself in. To some extent, she blames herself that he’s in custody.”
Percival was given a 24-month prison sentence, suspended for 24 months, and must abide by a 8pm6am curfew for three months.