Ribena bottles containing drugs and mobile phones were thrown over a prison wall by two men who were caught on CCTV. They were then stopped by a police officer in a car parked near the prison.
Mark Baldwin, 39, and Liam McCabe, 25, were seen trying to sneak contraband into HMP Parc in Bridgend on September 25, 2019, when security officers saw the bottles being thrown over the north wall. The bottles had fishing hooks attached to them and contained six blister packs of diazepam, 3.68g of cannabis resin, two cling film wraps of 1.97g of cocaine, 13.6g of cannabis flowering head, two mobile phones and chargers and 170g of tobacco. The value of the items in a prison setting was estimated to be around £1,000.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard an officer saw Baldwin and McCabe in a Ford Fiesta with the engine running. He told Baldwin to turn the engine off and both he and McCabe were arrested.
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Baldwin, of HMP Parc, and McCabe, of Alice Street, Cwmdu, Swansea, both pleaded guilty to conveying prohibited articles into prison. Both defendants had numerous previous convictions, with Baldwin having relevant drug convictions.
Defence barrister Giles Hayes, for Baldwin, said his client had a serious drug addiction and had a friend at Parc Prison who he agreed to do a favour for financial reward. Alex Ferguson, for McCabe, said his client was using cannabis and alcohol at the time of the offence and "wasn't thinking straight".
Recorder Andrew Hammond sentenced Baldwin to four years and three months imprisonment. He sentenced McCabe to three years imprisonment.
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