Jailed: Mum-of-two smuggled drugs in Kinder Eggs into prison

Chelsea Bennion was told a deterrent sentence was required because of the effect of drugs in prison. Mold Crown Court heard how she took a total of 99 tablets into the prison during a visit.

In prison they were worth £50 a tablet which meant her haul had a value of £4,950.

Bennion, 28, of Galaxy Grove in Brynteg, Wrexham, admitted conveying the buprenorphine tablets into the prison in October 2018 and was jailed for 30 weeks.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said that it was far too serious for the sentence to be suspended.

At the time she had been on post sentence supervision after being released from prison herself for supplying cannabis.

The number of tablets and their value behind bars, the effect of drugs on the running of the prison, and the untold problems drugs caused for staff and prisoners alike were all aggravating features, he said.

He took into account her guilty plea, a letter the defendant had written to the court, and the delay in bringing the case to court.

During that delay she had moved on with her life and while her two children did not live with her, she was seeing them regularly.

'Impossible'

She was in a new relationship with hopes for the future.

But he said that deterrent sentences are required for those who take drugs into prison.

“People need to realise that if they take drugs into prison then consequences will follow,” he said.

“This behaviour is far too serious to enable me to draw back.

“It is simply impossible to suspend the sentence in your case.”

Prosecuting barrister Anna Pope said the defendant visited prisoner Ryan Wolfe. The drugs were passed to Wolfe under a coat as they sat next to each other.

A prison guard became suspicious and approached Wolfe, 29, of Nuneaton.

The two eggs - one containing 50 tablets and the other 49 - were discovered hidden in the leg of his trousers.

Wolfe admitted conveying the prohibited drug into the prison.

'Straight-forward'

At the time, he was serving six years at HMP Berwyn for assault with intent to rob – and received an additional eight months for the drugs offences at an earlier hearing.

A statement from the custody manager showed the effect of drugs in prison, including inmates getting into debt, assaults, prisoners falling back into drug abuse and encouraging gang culture.

Defending barrister Matthew Curtis said that the defendant had written a letter to the court in which she had expressed genuine remorse.

There had been a long delay in the case and during that time his client had been able to put her life in order.

Her drug use was now behind her, she was in a new relationship and it was hoped her two children could be returned to live with her full time.

She was working part time in a supermarket and she and her partner had also established a business which had the prospect of future growth.

Mr Curtis said that she had made progress in her life and he suggested a suspended prison sentence.

The judge criticised police and the CPS for the delay in bringing ‘a straight-forward’ case to court. He said the defendant should have been charged and placed before the court with expedition.

For some reason it took well over a year , until November of last year, for her to be postally requisitioned to court, he said.