Prison guard used Pot Noodle to smuggle drugs into jail where she worked

A prison guard busted for trying to smuggle a Pot Noodle concealing cannabis into her workplace has been jailed.

Victoria Sked, 26, was found to be hiding even more contraband on her person after her arrest at HMP Lindholme, days before she was due to leave her role there.

Police found MDMA, psychoactive substances, more cannabis, vials of steroids, mobile phones, tobacco and a SIM card.

On her phone, they found pictures of mobile phones, chargers and Kinder Egg holders, sparking an investigation that saw 10 people sentenced on Friday.

The scheme – involving Sked, various inmates and their relatives – unravelled that day.

But not before they managed to smuggle MDMA, steroids, spice, cannabis, mobile phones and other prohibited items into the Doncaster prison between August 2018 and July 2019.

To give an idea of the operation’s scale, a search of Sked’s home revealed £7,900 in cash, 12 mobile phones, 332 sheets of spice paper, and cannabis.

A police anti-corruption unit then found financial links between Sked and Ayesha Martin, whose boyfriend Simie McGinley has been locked up at HMP Lindholme.

CCTV footage showed Martin visiting Sked’s address, where she dropped off packages, on seven separate occasions.

Analysis of phones found within the prison implicated inmates Robert Williams and Gareth Roberts in the supply of drugs there.

Mr Roberts’ partner Diane Monks caught trying to smuggle spice into the prison when she visited in November 2018.

Another inmate and partner pair – Jack McGlen and Alicia Harrison – were found to be involved in, respectively, drug selling and money laundering as part of the criminal enterprise.

Three others were also implicated.

Victoria Sked, 32, of HMP New Hall, has been jailed for three years and 11 months after pleading guilty to drug smuggling, money laundering, and smuggling mobile phones and SIM cards into prison.

Gareth Roberts, 38, of Manor Farm Drive in Leeds, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to drug smuggling and possession of a prohibited article.

Robert Williams, 35, of Brignall Garth, Leeds, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and possession of a prohibited article. He got one year and 10 months in prison.

Ayesha Martin, 30, of Baring Gould Way, Wakefield, got three-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to drug smuggling, money laundering, and smuggling mobile phones and SIM cards into prison.

Simie McGinley, 30, of HMP Stocken Hall, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling, money laundering, smuggling mobile phones and SIM cards into prison, and possession of a prohibited article. He’s been jailed for one-and-a-half years.

Jack McGlen, 33, of Woodbridge Law, Leeds, got a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to drug smuggling, money laundering and possession of a prohibited article.

His partner Alicia Harrison, 27, of Woodbridge Crescent, Leeds, was handed a 21-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months after pleading guilty to drug smuggling and money laundering.

Darren Morgan, 45, of Renee Close, Bradford, got four years and 10 months for drug smuggling, laundering and possession of diamorphine and cocaine with intent to supply. He pleaded guilty.

Adam Kirk, 34, of Fir Tree Approach, Leeds, has been jailed for two years and four months for drug smuggling, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, without insurance and while over the specified limit for drugs.

Abigail Carter, a 24-year-old from Alderley, Skelmersdale, whose sister was an inmate in the prison, got a 16-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months for drug smuggling and money laundering.

Ms Monks, 46 and of Highfield Villas, Leeds, will be sentenced next Friday. She pleaded guilty to smuggling cannabis and spice.

Another defendant, 30-year-old Lydia Ratcliffe, of Chestnut Grove, Hyde Park, Leeds, got a 12-month condition discharge in July.

She pleaded guilty to transmitting or ausing to be transmit, any image from inside a prison. She was found not guilty of money laundering.

Detective Constable Scott Jarvis said: ‘This investigation has spanned over half a decade with hours of phone work, forensic analysis and financial enquiries carried out to dismantle this complex criminal network operating both inside and outside the prison.

‘They all played their part in creating this elaborate web of drug smuggling and money laundering that they thought was intangible, and it is thanks to the hard work of this unit in bringing the conspirators of these crimes to justice.’

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