Cocaine hidden in condoms during jail visits
11:38, 03 August 2009
updated: 12:26, 03 August 2009
A goose egg-sized amount of cocaine and even a mobile phone were hidden inside a prisoner's body, a court heard.
The plot to smuggle drugs into a jail only came to light when a man asked to use the toilet as he was awaiting a move.
Officers noticed blood and then heard "the thud" of something hitting the floor of the toilet - and a mobile phone was found wrapped inside a condom.
Peter Germaine, 28, and of no fixed address, hid the phone and the cocaine inside condoms which were hidden inside his body, Canterbury Crown Court was told.
Germaine, who was wanted for breaching a community order, gave himself up to Margate Police expecting to be remanded in custody at Elmley Prison.
But Prosecutor Ian Acheson said the plot went wrong as he waited to be moved to jail and asked to use the toilet.
It was then that officers noticed the blood and found the mobile phone wrapped inside a condom.
Later a second condom was passed containing a quantity of cocaine and an ecstasy-type drug, which is expected to be outlawed soon.
Five other Thanet men admitted plotting to smuggle drugs and a mobile phone into jail, using Germaine "as a mule".
Anthony Jarman, 26, and Stewart Jarman, 25, both of Nixon Avenue, Ramsgate; Sean McCann, 23, of Prestedge Avenue, Ramsgate; Alan Shaw, 51, of Ellen Avenue, Ramsgate and Warren Shaw, 25 of Crescent Road, Ramsgate were all jailed for three years today. Peter Germaine has still to be sentenced.
Judge Adele Williams said: "This was an organised and deliberate conspiracy intended to undermine the punative purpose and effectiveness of prison. Such conduct must be punished and there must be a deterrent element.
All had admitted conspiring to supply resin and convey a mobile phone into prison. Alan Shaw further admitted producing a class B drug and possession with intent to supply.
Latest news
Features
Most popular
- 1
The abandoned ‘ghost road’ that once took holidaymakers to the Kent coast
17 - 2
Motorway reopens after fuel spillage in collision
- 3
Dad who took cocaine on holiday still had drug in system when stopped by police
- 4
Rolexes and crypto: How dealer selling drugs from bedroom hid ‘massive profits’
18 - 5
Christmas events cancelled amid weather warning
2