Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 Source: Manchester Evening News (UK) Copyright: 2006 Manchester Evening News Contact: http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1313 Author: Will Batchelor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom) OFFICER SMUGGLED DRUGS INTO JAIL A PRISON officer has admitted trying to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into jail to pay off a gambling debt owed to an inmate. David Bentley, 38, tried to take three large blocks of cannabis resin, pills and four mobile phones to a prisoner at Risley, near Warrington, on Christmas Eve. Fellow officers found the drugs and phones in two sealed bags of crisps during a routine search when he arrived for work. Susan Tickle, prosecuting, told Warrington magistrates' court: "Mr Bentley initially told police he had taken the packages in at the request of a prisoner on his wing to whom he owed UKP 300 in gambling debts. "He said he thought they contained mobile phones and slimming pills. He said that the packages were already sealed when he collected them." Bentley, who lives in Runcorn and has been a prison officer for three years, told police he was smuggling the contraband in exchange for the cancellation of the debt. He said it was also in exchange for information about a recent incident at the prison and for the name of another prison officer dealing drugs on a different wing. A senior officer at the prison found the two crisp bags while Bentley was being searched and opened them after noticing how heavy they were. One bag contained two large blocks of cannabis resin and a mobile phone. The other contained another block of cannabis, some coloured pills and another three mobiles. David Kilty, defending, said Bentley had assured him the incident was a "silly, one-off, snap decision". Bentley pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply and conveying an article, namely four mobile phones, to a prisoner. He was given conditional bail and will be sentenced at Warrington Crown Court on February 3. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake