Drone gang ‘targeted seven jails with phone and drugs deliveries’

SeveN jails across the country were targeted by a gang that used drones to fly drugs and mobile phones directly to inmates, a court was told.

The drugs included cannabis and crack cocaine as well as a psychoactive substance known as black mamba, it was alleged.

They were delivered hanging from a length of weighted fishing line and inmates retrieved them with hooked sticks, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told.

Five people went on trial yesterday accused of conspiring to bring contraband into seven jails between May 2016 and May last year.

Lee Anslow, 31, a prisoner who is accused of masterminding the scheme, and fellow inmates Shane Hadlington, 29, Paul Ferguson, 27, and Stefan Rattray, 28, are on trial alongside Stella Deakin, 41, who is accused of driving the drone pilot.

Telephone data shows all five defendants communicated regularly with each other to arrange the illegal deliveries, jurors were told.

each delivery would have made the gang up to £20,000, with drugs having a much higher value in prisons than on the street because of the difficulty in obtaining them inside, prosecutors said.

The prisons targeted by the gang were said to include Birmingham, Liverpool, Risley, in Cheshire, Oakwood and Featherstone, in Wolverhampton, Hewell, in Worcestershire, and Wymott, in Lancashire.

The drone operator, Brandon Smith, 24, of Kingstanding Road, Tipton, has already admitted his part in the conspiracy.

Michelle Heeley, prosecuting, said: ‘These defendants were responsible for the supply of drugs, phones and weapons into prisons across the country.’

In another case earlier this year eight members of a gang were jailed for a total of 28 years for using drones to fly contraband worth up to £370,000 into prisons.

The gang are allegedly linked to the individuals in the current trial. All five deny the charges. Their trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.