A corrupt prison nurse who used hollowed-out shoes to smuggle drugs and SIM cards into jail has been locked up for 20 months.
Kiera Burton, 33, was rumbled after being found with the contraband during a stop and search on her way to work.
The healthcare worker was part of a 15-strong gang who also used high-tech drones to deliver parcels of drugs into the yards at HMP Preston.
Another tactic involved a serving prisoner claiming to be unwell so they were taken to hospital where they would pick up packages of drugs and phones in the toilets.
Evidence was gathered to show drugs were also brought into jail in children’s clothing on prison visits.
The investigating that exposed the prison gang began when police started tracing the drug supply of two HMP Preston inmates, Stinton Glover, 32, and 38-year-old Eric Taylor.
Kiera Burton, 33, was rumbled after being found with drugs and SIM cards during a stop and search on her way to work. Pictured right: The hollowed-out shoes she used to smuggle drugs
The gang used sophisticated drones to deliver parcels of drugs into the yards at HMP Preston. This image shows a drone control panel as the drone hovers over a prison
Drugs were found inside condoms (pictured)
Glover’s phone revealed his top contacts were Jonathan Royal and Danny Ryder, both 32, who were behind bars at nearby HMP Lancaster Farms – a Category C jail housing 549 men.
It later emerged that Royal and Ryder were coordinating the supply of drugs into HMP Preston from their cells, working with conspirators both within and outside the jail.
All 15 members of their organised crime gang were sentenced on Friday to more than 50 years in prison. Burton was locked up for 20 months.
Royal received seven years and 11 months and Ryder six years.
Det Sgt Stu Peall, of the East Exploitation Team, said: ‘This was a sophisticated criminal gang involving both serving prisoners and people on the outside smuggling drugs and other contraband like mobile phones and sim cards on a regular basis into prisons using a variety of different methods.
‘We will continue to work with our partners in the prison service to tackle drug supply and target anyone involved.
‘Criminals who think they can carry on with their illicit operations behind bars should think again – this case shows that we will dismantle criminal gangs operating inside and outside of prison, disrupt their activity and pursue offenders and put them before the courts.’
‘I am grateful to colleagues in the prison service and at the Crown Prosecution Service in what was a very complex investigation.’
A stash of cash seized by officers investigating the massive and ‘sophisticated’ conspiracy
The investigation that exposed the prison gang began when police started analysing the drug supply of two inmates at HMP Preston, Stinton Glover, 32, and 38-year-old Eric Taylor
Jonathan Royal and Daniel Ryder coordinated the supply of drugs into HMP Preston
Bundles of cannabis were disguised by the gang as candy
The latest inspection report for HMP Preston found that drugs were too easy to get hold of inside the jail, and their use was directly linked to debt and violence.
It is far from the only British jail struggling with the issue, with Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, describing the issue of drones dropping contraband into prisons as a threat to national security.
Apart from consignments of illegal drugs and weapons, prisoners are receiving mobile phones and even takeaway meals, Mr Taylor found.
He called for urgent action earlier this year after inspections found high levels of drugs in HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
Mr Taylor said: ‘The safety of staff, prisoners and ultimately that of the public, is seriously compromised by the failure to tackle what has become a threat to national security.
‘It is highly alarming that the police and Prison Service have, in effect, ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs, which are able to deliver contraband to jails holding extremely dangerous prisoners including some who have been designated as high-risk Category A.
‘It is chilling that weapons can be delivered in this way – especially when some of these wings hold terrorists.’
Katie Walter, Deborah Ingram and David Leach helped the gang smuggle drugs into HMP Lancaster Farms and HMP Preston
Jamie Whelan, Michael Royal and Oliver Howlett were all convicted as part of the conspiracy
Mr Taylor previously described how one prison was being swarmed by so many drones that it was like an ‘airport’.
He found that more than a dozen cells at HMP Garth had holes in their windows, which had been burnt by inmates using the element from their kettles.
They then use mops and brooms to haul in illicit substances hanging down from drones hovering outside.
Last year, a couple were jailed for making more than a hundred drops in 11 jails over just a year.
Drone pilot Sajad Hashimi, 27, flew his DJI Phantom 4 into prisons on 78 dates between August 2022 and October last year – making drops as far south as Dorset and as far north as Edinburgh, with his wife Zerka Maranay hiring cars to help along the way.
