A Liverpool man was found with an iPhone hidden inside his Xbox console and drugs in his prison cell.
John Barr, originally of Southwood Road in Liverpool, appeared before Mold Crown Court on Monday for possession of drugs and a mobile phone without authority. He was a serving prisoner at HMP Berwyn in North Wales when he was caught, North Wales Live reports.
Mr Paulinus Barnes, prosecuting, said Barr's shared cell was searched on February 4 of this year. Wraps of cannabis resin were found by prison officers on the 28-year-old and further inspection found the iPhone and charger hidden inside his gaming console.
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A sheet of spice-laced paper was found hidden in a diary under the mattress of his bed but in a statement from Barr, he denied the paper and phone belonged to him. He added that the cannabis was for "personal use".
The court heard how the value of drugs were inflated within prisons and that the estimated value within prison walls of everything recovered would be roughly in the region of £700. Defending, Ms Kate Morley, said Barr was making "great progress" since his recent release from Berwyn and appealed to the judge to opt for an alternative sentence.
Judge Niclas Parry agreed Barr was making progress but stressed this was nothing short of a "serious" matter. He said: "These drugs cause bullying and ill discipline in prison. All the work being done by everyone to help prisoners rehabilitate is spoilt.
"There's no suggestion you were using that phone for anything illegal. But nevertheless, phones in prison are used to intimidate witnesses of crimes on the outside and to bully people on the inside. You've just come out of prison and any custodial sentence would be brief, so I've got two choices. Do I interfere with your progress on license for the sake of sending you back for a few months?"
The Judge went on to say he felt able to suspend the jail term of eight months for the next year and 180 hours of unpaid work was also ordered.
