Shropshire prisoner hid cannabis in Kinder Egg cases
Kinder Egg capsules were used to smuggle drugs into a prison in Shropshire, a court has heard.
Prisoner Rian Protheroe met up with a contact at Shrewsbury railway station while on day release to receive cannabis which he later concealed in the capsules at a fast food restaurant in the town, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.
Protheroe then returned to Stoke Heath prison, near Market Drayton, where he was serving a three-year sentence for a number of offences including cultivating cannabis. But the drugs were discovered by prison staff the following day.
The 28-year-old, of Alders Lane in Whixall, near Whitchurch, had admitted charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and taking a prohibited item into the prison on March 8 last year at an earlier hearing.
He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment suspended for 12 months when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.
Mr Phillip Beardwell, prosecuting, described how Protheroe had met someone to get hold of the drugs and the methods he had used to conceal them.
He told the court that there was a total of 46.8 grams of cannabis which in a prison is believed to be worth £200 per gram.
Mr Michael Sherwood–Smith, for Protheroe, said that his client had suffered from bullying and felt pressured by other prisoners into taking the drugs into prison.
"He felt he had to get through his sentence somehow," he said.
"He didn't grass on those who were putting him under pressure."
He told the court that Protheroe, who has since been released, wasn't going to benefit from the drugs.
Judge Peter Barrie said: "I have not found it easy to decide how to deal with you.
"Taking drugs into a prison is a serious offence.
"You need to understand how serious it is.
"You quite deliberately held a meeting at the railway station. You took the drugs into the prison where you were a trusted prisoner.
"You didn't have to do that. You could have decided not to go on day release or could have spoken to staff about the bullying and the pressure you were under.
"You were not blameless and could have found another way to deal with it."
Protheroe was also ordered to do 120 hours' unpaid work and pay £300 towards prosecution costs.
The judge also asked for the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.
