Jail visitor’s drugs were for her own use

A VISITOR to prison was caught with drugs when she was strip searched – but has walked free from court after prosecutors accepted they were for her own use.

Sharon Boyle was at HMP Northumberland to see an inmate when a camera operator spotted them acting suspiciously.

When she was later searched at a police station, she was found to have five buprenorphine tablets on her.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Boyle, 51, of Robert Owen Gardens, Windy Nook, Gateshead, went to HMP Northumberland in July 2016 to visit a serving prisoner.

Barry Robson, prosecuting, said: “There was a camera operator who thought they were acting suspiciously together and believed they had seen something passed.

“Staff were alerted and they were approached and challenged. The defendant denied ever having passed anything at all.

“She was taken to a room while the inmate was taken to another room.

“She was then arrested and taken to Wallsend police station and strip searched and a package fell to the floor which contained five buprenorphine tablets.”

A search of her home revealed she was also in possession of a small amount of amphetamine.

Boyle admitted conveying a banned article into prison and possessing amphetamine and was given a 12-month community order.

Shaun Routledge, mitigating, said she had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and has mental health problems.