A DRUG dealer caught hiding a mobile phone under a pillow in his prison cell has been given a further eight months in jail.
HMP Bullingdon inmate Desmond Bailey was already serving an eight-month prison sentence for having class A drugs, and is awaiting sentencing for another matter of being concerned in the supply of drugs.
On the afternoon of November 4 last year prison guards searched the 28-year old’s cell, which he shared with another inmate.
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It wasn’t long before a mobile phone was discovered along with a functioning SIM card hidden underneath his pillow.
He went on to admit one count of having without lawful authority a prohibited item while in prison before Oxford Magistrates’ Court last month and was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday.
In mitigation at that hearing his defence barrister Daniel Jones said that his client had only used the phone to contact family and friends.
He said: “He is realistic, he understand the inevitable sentence today is one of custody, he entered a guilty plea at the magistrates’ court at the first opportunity.
“There is no evidence that the phone was ever used for any nefarious purposes.”
Sentencing, Judge Peter Ross said that any inmate caught with a mobile phone would be handed a custodial punishment.
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He said: “Mobile phones in prisons are such a menace to the good order and discipline within prisons.
“They bring about the bullying of other prisoners and regrettably the continuation of criminal activities in prison.
“I don’t understand why prisoners in Bullingdon think they can get away with this, Bullingdon has now detection equipment.
“Those caught, and you will, get a sentence additional to what you are serving.”
Bailey was handed an eight-month jail term, which will run consecutive to his current term of imprisonment and he must pay a victim surcharge.
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