Woman who tried to smuggle drugs into prison avoids jail term

A WOMAN whose attempts to smuggle drugs into a jail were foiled by alert prison officers has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Kerri Allott (35), of Queen Mary Street, Maltby, aroused the suspicion of prison officers at HMP Lindholme in Doncaster when they spotted her with an inmate she was not familiar with.

She tried to supply a type of opioid called buprenorphine, cannabis, and drugs similar to spice to an inmate, Sheffield Crown Court was told last Friday (19).

Allott was originally due to be sentenced in April but was told she would be spared an immediate prison sentence if she kept a clean record and made good progress.

Last week, she was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Allott pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to nine counts of possession with intent of supplying class B drugs to an inmate and one count of possession with intent of supplying a class C drug to an inmate in relation to the incident in January last year.

Judge Michael Slater said: “It was quite apparent to prison officers that you were unacquainted with the inmate to whom you supplied the drugs and you aroused their suspicion from the outset.”

Judge Slater said he recognised that Allott was a vulnerable woman with various health problems.

“Taking drugs into prison is so serious that only a sentence of custody is justified,” he said.

But Judge Slater said Allott was an “extremely reluctant participant” and had only tried to smuggle the drugs because she was under “threatening and controlling conditions”.

He added: “You have kept out of court as I requested and you have not been before a court for in excess of 12 months.

“You have supported accommodation and you are doing well.”

Judge Slater also ordered Allott to complete 25 days of rehabilitation.