Bicester prisoner 'punished twice' for having contraband phone

Convicted burglar Mark Newsome, 52, was caught with the contraband mobile in HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, in March 2022.

He was punished for it by the prison governor, being stripped of privileges and his job behind bars.

And despite being dealt with for the matter when he was a serving prisoner, he was subsequently charged by the police and sent a letter summonsing him to court.

READ MORE: Milton Keynes man has been punished enough

On Friday (August 4), Judge Michael Gledhill KC told Oxford Crown Court that it would be ‘unjust’ to punish Newsome twice for the same offence.

The trouble was that he had pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to the offence of possession of a prohibited item in prison.

Legally that made it difficult to stop the prosecution. Judge Gledhill said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has been aware of the position before the defendant pleaded guilty and they would no doubt have discontinued these proceedings.

“You understand once you pleaded guilty the CPS couldn’t do very much about it.”

He added that the CPS reviewing lawyer’s hands were ‘tied’.

The judge marked the offence with a £400 fine or one day’s imprisonment.

READ MORE: Bicester Village robbery denied by Londoner

“He’s served the one day’s imprisonment by surrendering himself to a dock officer and therefore he can be released immediately,” he said.

Newsome, of Milton Keynes, was taken down to the cells below the courtroom, processed by cell staff and released at the end of the day.

Judge Gledhill said he was waiving the victim surcharge, a kind of tax paid by those convicted of criminal offences and which goes towards services designed to support victims of crime.

“I’m told by my clerk that I am supposed to impose a victim surcharge but in the circumstances of this case I decline to do so,” the judge said.

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