A FORMER prison chef paid to smuggle drugs into a top security jail made estimated gains of more than £16,000, a court ruled.

Ian Stuart Clarke, 43, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Durham Crown Court, last October, after admitting six counts of supplying cannabis and one of acquiring the proceeds of criminal property.

The court heard that two pieces of cannabis resin were found hidden in the sole of one of his shoes during a search as Clarke arrived for work at Frankland Prison, near Durham, in March last year.

Police subsequently found six packages of skunk cannabis and £2,260 in cash in a search of his home, in Lincoln Avenue, Silksworth, Sunderland.

He made full admissions to police, revealing he was approached about taking drugs into the prison by an inmate, in September 2003.

Clarke, who was nearing the end of a temporary contract, was instructed to collect the drugs from a man from Manchester, at Washington Services, on the A1(M).

He was given two blocks of cannabis resin, a £500 payment and a mobile phone, on which he received arrangements for further collections.

Clarke estimated he made a dozen or more collections, being paid £500 for every 4oz consignment of cannabis resin, or £1,000 for 'double deliveries'.

Although he went on to be made permanent chef, he said he feared the inmate too much to end the smuggling.

Tim Parkin, for Clarke, said he believed he made around £11,000 from his activities, spending only around £1,500 and using the rest to buy premium bonds or merely to pay into his bank account.

Proceeds of Crime investigations were subsequently carried out to try to establish an exact figure for Clarke's financial gains from his criminal activity.

Following representations over the sum involved, Judge Richard Lowden agreed to a confiscation order in the sum of £16,146.