A married couple ran a “supermarket for prisoners” and used a drone to smuggle drugs and phones into jails.
Danielle McEllin, 35, and Jake Burns, 29, both of Monfa Road, Bootle, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to seven charges between them relating to bringing contraband into prisons using drones. Jake Burns pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to convey cannabis, phones, tobacco and cannabis resin into prison, between July 7 and August 2 last year.
His wife pleaded guilty to assisting and encouraging him to convey cannabis and cannabis resin, telephones, and tobacco into prisons, between the same dates. Burns pleaded guilty on the basis that he did not conspire with his wife, and that she did not know of his intentions, but did accept there was a proposed recipient of the contraband inside the two prisons.
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Neil Bisarya, prosecuting, detailed that McEllin drove Burns to the vicinity of HMP Hindley and HMP Liverpool on various occasions so that he could pilot the drone and make the deliveries into prison. Mr Bisarya said: “Prison staff at HMP Liverpool have sighted a drone on 11th, 19th and 31st July and the police have found video footage from the drone seized at the defendants' address from 11th and 19th July.
“Prison staff at HMP Hindley also have CCTV footage from the 31st July 2022 of a drone entering the restricted airspace.” Mr Bisarya also referenced video footage taken by McEllin of her husband in which he unpacks a large white box matching the packaging of a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone and an orange drone landing pad.
In the video, McEllin said “best flyer in Liverpool”, and Burns responded “best flyer in the North West, we’re going to Wigan tonight”. Cell Site data for both defendants linked them to the visits to the prisons, and on July 4, they were spotted on CCTV cameras travelling between Liverpool and HMP Hindley twice in one day.
On July 11, prison staff at HMP Liverpool observed a drone delivering goods into a wing of the prison at around 11pm, and video footage later discovered from the drone itself shows it returning from the jail. A week later on July 19, at around twenty to midnight, prison staff at HMP Liverpool spotted the drone entering the establishment, and police later received information it had crash landed nearby.
McEllin’s car was spotted multiple times by police in the vicinity of the prison, with her behind the wheel and Burns in the passenger seat. Mr Bisarya said: “A long wire with a dark coloured package can be seen swinging towards the wind of a prison cell.
“The drone is then seen to ascend high above the prison before crash landing, matching the sighting report from the prison.” Similarly, on July 31, the drone was again spotted by prison staff delivering goods at around 10pm, and later, HMP Hindley also captured the CCTV of a drone entering their prison airspace and descending over a wing.
The couple were arrested on August 1, after police executed a warrant at their address. The home was searched and the drone was located in a bag in the rear porch, with string, plastic bags, around 40 circular clingfilm packages containing drugs, a smart phone wrapped in clingfilm with charging cables, more phones, cigarette papers and 32 sim cards.
Three cling film wrapped packages containing 36.8 grams of flowering head cannabis were found, with a prison value of between £1,000 and £1,800. 13 clingfilm packages containing 230.1 grams of cannabis resin was found, with a street value of around £1150.
Four further cling film wrapped packages containing 68.3 grams of cannabis resin with a street value of £340,30.9 grams of nicotine, 2 phones, cables, 32 sim cards and a quantity of cigarette papers were also found. The total prison value of the cannabis resin was calculated as between £4,400 and £7,400.
12 clingfilm packages containing a total of 227.4 grams of nicotine was found, and a total of 258 grams of tobacco with a total prison value of £2,500 was seized. Mr Bisarya also detailed that the value of the iPhone found would be between £1,000 and £1,500 in prison, plus £50 for the charging cable.
He said the sim cards would fetch around £50 each in prison, so £1,600 in total, and the other Zanco mobile phone found would be between £300 and £500. Burns and McEllin were interviewed and answered no comment to all questions. McEllin has three previous convictions for three offences, including battery in 2016 and owning a dog dangerously out of control in 2008.
Burns has 24 convictions for 54 offences, including in 2017 when he was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment by Chester Crown Court for conspiracy to convey items including cannabis into prison. He was also previously sentenced to five years imprisonment in a young offenders institute for robbery.
Michael O’Brien, defending Burns, said Burns had felt that he had begun to get his life “back on track” after being released from prison from his 2017 sentence for a short time, but “fell back into crime” in committing these offences. He said: “He threw that away when he fell back into crime.
“Of course he regrets his actions, he regrets his return to crime, he knows he has let himself and his family down. More than anything is the regret he feels for involving his wife, he would take full responsibility if he could.”
Tom Watson, defending McEllin, explained that his client was only involved in these crimes at the request of her husband, and said a “pressure cooker” of circumstances led to her involvement. He said: “This was a woman really living in a pressure cooker in terms of her situation.
“Though she feels none other than deeply let down by her husband, she still loves him and wants to stand by him. He acknowledges that he led her into this.
“She was foolish enough to get involved through financial difficulties, misplaced loyalty, and the other problems she was facing.” Mr Watson detailed that McEllin has two children and they would be left without parental care if both defendants were sent to custody.
His Honour Recorder Imran Shafi KC described the operation as “effectively a supermarket for items for prisoners”. In sentencing, he said: “You can absolutely see the huge profit to be made in this endeavour.
“You were well equipped with the equipment and supplies to further this conspiracy, and it is plain that had you not been arrested, this would have continued. “This was an ingenious, methodical, effective and highly organised enterprise.”
Burns was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and gave a thumbs up and said thanks to the judge when sentenced. McEllin was handed 16 months imprisonment suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 20 rehabilitation days, plus abide by a curfew for three months barring her from leaving home between 7pm and 7am.
After sentencing, Recorder Shafi told McEllin to “reflect on how lucky you are to not be walking out of that door behind your husband.” The victim surcharge applies to both defendants.
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