A WOMAN who smuggled drugs and a mobile phone into prison has been spared her own spell behind bars after a judge heard she was terrified by threats by “random males”.

Emma Wright, 22, from Darlington, was warned that her home and car would be firebombed and the house where her parents and sister lived would also be burned to the ground unless she agreed to smuggle items into prison.

Wright met a hooded man at a McDonalds restaurant and was guided to a property where a hand-over of the items took place, Teesside Crown Court was told yesterday.

She visited the inmate to end their relationship, but the threats started and she felt under pressure to take in the items on a second trip.

Staff at Holme House Prison in Stockton saw Wright acting suspiciously.

The court heard that she was constantly looking around and she was seen to reach into her bra on two occasions.

Officials found a cling film-wrapped package containing a phone, 37 sleeping pills and 27 buprenorphine tablets, which treat heroin withdrawal.

Prosecutor Emma Atkinson told Judge Deborah Sherwin that the pills would be worth £1 each on the streets – but £645 on the black market in jail.

In an interview, Wright, of Cobden Street, Darlington, said she had been contacted by “random males” who also made threats towards her boyfriend.

Peter Turner, mitigating, said: “She didn’t know what to do when she found herself in this position.

“She was terrified and made a stupid decision.

“She thought the only way to shut them up was to comply with what they wanted.

“The ex-boyfriend has, in her view, precipitated all of this.

“She is a stupid girl, yes, but she is of good character, with a hard-working reputation, with a good family.

“She is mortified by what she has done.”

Wright admitted three charges of conveying a listed article into prison, and was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Judge Sherwin told the hotel cleaner: “This was out of character for you.

“I accept you were put under a lot of pressure with threats being made to you.

“Taking anything unlawful into prison is a serious matter, and normally attracts an immediate prison sentence, but this is a case where it can be suspended.”