A man seeking to assist his son, who is serving a life prison sentence, made a 160-mile trip with an accomplice to throw a contraband package into HMP Frankland, Durham.
Stephen Jones was said to be acting out of loyalty to his son by driving to the North East, from Liverpool, with recruited sidekick, Gary Muldoon, on November 27, 2024.
Durham Crown Court was told that Muldoon, wearing a high-vis vest, cycled up to the external perimeter wall of the top security establishment, on the outskirts of the city, and threw an object into the prison gym annexe.
Charlie Thompson, prosecuting, said Muldoon then ran back to his cycle and rode to a waiting car.
He dismantled the foldable bike and put it into the boot of the car, which was then driven away by Jones.
Following a report of the incident to police the car was stopped on the A1 and the pair were arrested.
Mr Thompson said that upon being detained, Jones told police he would “do anything” for his son, who at the time was detained in the prison.
The package thrown into the prison was recovered by staff and was found to be a taped-up plastic Schweppes drink bottle.
It contained more than a dozen miniature brick phones, 24 Sim cards, wireless headphones, chargers, tobacco and cigarette papers, plus a mixture of different quantities of drugs, including ecstasy, ketamine, cannabis plus a variety of class C prescription pills.
Jones, 57, and his 42-year-old co-accused, both of Knowsley, Liverpool, admitted conveying prohibited list A (the drugs) and B (phones) articles into a prison.
Oliver Saddlington, for Jones, said, having previously served long terms in prison, himself, he was “fully aware” of the severity of trying to take such items into a jail, given the “fragile environment”.
“His son was doing life for murder.
“He was alarmed to hear his son was facing pressure from other inmates to obtain illicit items and, apart from dealing with it in quite the wrong way, he said he would do anything to help his son.
“However misguided it was, it was to ensure his son wasn’t subject to grave violence from other inmates.”
Mr Saddlington, said the defendant, “was not a well man” and may struggle in prison, more so than others.
“He has some unpleasant offences on his record, but there have been significant gaps in his offending history.”
Simran Garcha, for Muldoon, said he has expressed “sincere regret and remorse” for becoming involved in such offending.
“He doesn’t shrink away from the seriousness of his actions.”
Miss Garcha said the defendant was suffering “personal turmoil in his life”, partly stemming from his financial situation.
She said the defendant has suffered with substance misuse, having had “issues with cocaine, directly linked to his offending behaviour.”
Judge Jo Kidd told the defendants: “You travelled across the country from Merseyside in order to seek to introduce into a maximum-security prison a significant number of items that include class A and B drugs and prescriptions drugs, all of which are classed as list A articles.
“In addition to drugs there were a significant number of small mobile phones, 24 Sim cards, chargers and other equipment to facilitate the unlawful use of phones in a prison.”
The judge said introducing such items into a prison environment affects the operational security of prisons and impacts on control in, “such a highly charged atmosphere.”
She said it was “clearly a joint enterprise”, one for emotional and the other for financial reasons, by the defendants.
But she told Jones: “You, particularly, for someone with an extensive antecedent history, having previously served a ten-and-a-half-year sentence, will know the consequences of introducing these items into a prison environment.”
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She imposed a 36-month prison sentence on Muldoon, and, due to his extensive health issues, reduced the sentence on Jones to one of 32 months.
The judge added: “The message must go out clearly that those who seek to introduce drugs ad contraband into custodial settings must expect to receive immediate custodial sentences themselves.”
She also ordered forfeiture and destruction of all the recovered items.
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