Drug dealer jailed after repeatedly using drone to take contraband to prisons in Wigan and Liverpool

Jake Burns was found to have skunk, cannabis resin, tobacco, two mobile phones, 32 sim cards, cables and cigarette papers when his home was raided.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that inside prison the cannabis resin was worth £7,400, the skunk had a value of £1,800 and the tobacco was worth £2,500.

The items were found in a bag behind a door at his home on Monfa Road, Bootle, along with a drone, said Neil Biswara, prosecuting.

Disqualified driver Burns had used the drone to take items into HMP Liverpool and HMP Hindley and used his wife Danielle Burns as a driver on his smuggling trips.

She filmed him opening a box containing a drone, during which she says “best flyer in Liverpool” to which Burns responds “best flyer in the North West, we're going to Wigan tonight”, said Mr Biswarya.

Burns, 29, who has previous convictions including for conveying drugs into prison in 2017, was jailed for three years.

Recorder Imran Shafi, KC, listed the items found in the bag, including 40 packages of drugs, a phone, all wrapped in cling film, scales, string and plastic bags, and said they “were effectively a supermarket with items that prisoners might want but are not able to obtain because they are illegal in the establishments”.

He said: “This was an ingenious, novel, effective and most of all a highly illegal enterprise.”

Burns pleaded guilty to four offences of conspiracy to convey drugs, mobile phones and tobacco into the two prisons between July 3 and August 2.

Danielle Burns, 34, admitted three offences of assisting and encouraging her husband to convey cannabis resin, phones and tobacco.

The court heard she has three unrelated convictions.

The judge sentenced her to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

“What leads me to suspend it is the impact on your two innocent daughters who have, through no fault of their own, you two setting a terrible example to them,” he said.

The judge ordered her to carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activities and imposed a three-month curfew between 7pm and 7am.

Mr Biswara told how the first trip was to Wigan on July 4, with Danielle driving them in a VW Golf, and a week later the drone delivered items to Walton prison.

On July 19 there was another sighting at the prison of the drone, which later crashed nearby.

Video found on the drone’s memory card when the couple’s home was raided confirmed those two later trips.

On July 31 a drone was again seen entering Walton prison and later the same night it flew into the grounds of HMP Hindley, said Mr Biswara.

Michael O’Brien, defending, said Burns thought he had got his life back on track after his 2017 conviction as he had a job, had married and had family responsibilities.

He said: “He acknowledges he threw it away when he fell back into crime. He regrets his actions and knows he has let himself and his family down.”

Defence barrister Tom Watson said of Mrs Burns: “She feels let down by him (her husband) but still loves him and still wishes to stand by him.”