Man who tried to smuggle drugs and a phone into Wigan’s jail now behind bars himself

Lee Taylor was imprisoned for 16 months by a Bolton judge after he was caught red-handed by Hindley Prison staff.

The crown court hearing was told that the 44-year-old attended the Bickershaw institution as a visitor but was spotted on CCTV passing over several packages to an inmate.

They were confiscated and analysis showed them to be Class A cocaine, Class B cannabis and Class C stanozolol (anabolic steroid).

Taylor, of Spa Crescent, Little Hulton, Salford, had also tried to pass over a mobile, tobacco and cigarette papers during the bungled visiting area exchange last May 17.

He admitted to all five smuggling offences at what was his first appearance before the judge.

Last year the Wigan Post reported that there had been a massive increase in the amount of drugs confiscated from Hindley Prison inmates in the last five years.

Shocking figures from the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service showed that in the 12 months to March 2018, 223 searches uncovered drugs in the jail: 56 times more than in 2013. Over the same period, 44 per cent of the mandatory drug tests returned a positive result.

Prison reform charity the Howard League says the increase in prison contraband, including drugs and mobile phones, reflected wider failings in the penal system.

In total, inmates failed 141 of the 324 tests conducted in the institution. For the first time that year, the figures include psychoactive substances such as spice, the abuse of which had increasingly become a concern.

In December 2016 prison inspectors said that it was easier for inmates to get hold of drugs at Hindley than it was staples of life such as books and laundry.

Another big problem to dog many prisons is mobiles which allow crooks to continue conducting their nefarious activities from behind bars.

Last May, the Post reported tthere had been a huge rise in their being smuggled into Hindley, going from a mere handful in 2010 to 418 in 2017.