A PRISONER who tried to conceal a prohibited mobile phone by hiding it inside his bottom has had his jail term increased.

Mason Fleming was on the B-wing at HMP Bullingdon near Bicester on December 2 last year when a prison officer received information that he had been using a mobile phone.

In an attempt to prevent it being taken away, Fleming wrapped the Zanco mobile phone in a blue latex glove and tried to hide it inside himself. After a struggle, the guard seized the phone.

Yesterday Oxford Crown Court heard Fleming’s grandmother had died in the days before the phone was found. The court was told he had used it to talk to his partner, his mother and a friend, all of whom were on a permitted list of people he was allowed to speak to on official prison phones.

Fiona Clegg, defending, said Fleming had the phone for just two days before it was taken away and had been using it to talk to loved ones at a difficult time.

If it weren’t for his most recent offence, Fleming could have left prison in November 2018 ,where he is serving time for wounding and possessing an offensive weapon.

Judge Zoe Smith extended his sentence by eight months and told Fleming: “As you will appreciate, mobile phones can fall into the wrong hands.

“The offence is so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Fleming, who is 28, had earlier admitted one count of possessing a mobile phone in prison at a hearing at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on July 25.