Jailed: Woman smuggled drugs into Shropshire prison in a packet of crisps

Ciara Ashwood was arrested by prison officers after being seen on CCTV placing cannabis and the phone into a crisp packet she had just bought from a tuck shop, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

Ashwood, 20, from Monnow Way in Bettws, near Newport, South Wales, was jailed for four months after pleading guilty to bringing the items into HMP Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton, during a visit on April 23 last year.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was visiting a gentleman at Stoke Heath prison.

"Prison officers were watching CCTV and could see the defendant fidgeting from left to right and wasn't interacting with the man she was visiting.

"She then went to the tuck shop and bought a packet of crisps. She went back to the gentleman and pulled something from her waistband that she put in the crisp packet before putting it down.

"The man picked up the packet and prison officers then intervened. They found drugs, cannabis and a mobile phone. She was then arrested and interviewed."

Mr Ben Waters, for Ashwood, said his client was vulnerable and immature.

He told the court: "She is very vulnerable and would do anything she was asked by loved ones."

Judge Jim Tindal said Ashwood had been involved in a number of crimes over a period of time including assaults and criminal damage.

Sentencing her, Judge Tindal said: "This time last year you were sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months for aggravated vehicle taking. That was after you committed this crime. Since then you have been out of trouble.

"It is a very serious offence to bring drugs and a mobile phone into a prison. You might have been manipulated but drugs and phones are a menace inside."