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Jail for lovestruck prison worker who smuggled drugs for inmate

A besotted jail worker who smuggled drugs into Featherstone Prison after falling for one of the inmates has been locked up for 12 months.

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Hannah Stewart's sentence was significantly reduced because she gave vital evidence against the three men – including her ex-lover Andrelle Leedham – who were also involved in the plot.

Mr Gerard Quirke, prosecuting, told Derby Crown Court: "She provided key evidence."

He doubted whether Leedham together with Featherstone inmates Christopher Lewis and Ricardo Edwards would have been convicted if she had remained silent.

Stewart, who had worked as an operational support officer at the prison, for four years, met Leedham who was doing time in the jail for blackmail.

A relationship developed that blossomed for a short time after his release in August last year, the court heard.

She smuggled a loaf sized two kilo package of contraband packed by him into the prison on November 22. It contained cannabis, several mobile phones, 700 anabolic steroid tablets and alcohol.

Stewart was approached by Lewis – who had links to Leedham – and followed his instruction to give it to fellow inmate Edwards who was stopped almost immediately by other prison officers who realised he was in the wrong part of the jail.

Both Stewart's father and brother worked at the prison at the time and the family later had a panic alarm installed by police at their Featherstone home, the court was told.

Mr Quirke said: "Stewart claimed she was blackmailed into doing this by Leedham who threatened to reveal their relationship to her parents. The power of that would have been strong."

Stewart confessed to investigators: "I was gullible. It was my own fault. I was lonely, he was nice to me and made me feel better about myself," the court heard.

Mr Mark Nicholls, defending, said: "Giving evidence against the other defendants gave her a great deal of concern for safety reasons but she knew it was the right thing to do. She was charmed by Leedham and made a significant mistake."

Stewart from Oaks Drive, Featherstone, admitted conspiracy to smuggle both cannabis and anabolic steroids into Featherstone. She also pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and was jailed by Recorder Peter Cooke.

He told her: "It is quite clear there was a degree of physical intimacy between the two of you when he was still a prisoner but it is not necessary for me to decide what acts you were engaged in at that stage.

"Things accelerated thereafter and he devised a number of tactics to get you to do what he wanted.

"I am alive to your compelling personal mitigation and the difficulties ex-prison officers face in the custodial environment, but the public would think I had taken leave of my senses if you were spared a term of immediate imprisonment."

Leedham was jailed for four years after being convicted of conspiracy to smuggle drugs, anabolic steroids and mobile phones into Featherstone. Lewis and Edwards each changed their plea to guilty to conspiracy to smuggle cannabis into the jail. The change of heart came as their trial was about to start and the trio were dealt with earlier this week.

Stewart's family are standing by her.

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