Four jailed for conspiring to smuggle items into Birmingham prison
Four people - including two serving prison officers - have been jailed for conspiring to smuggle items into prison.
West Midlands Police launched an investigation into the corrupt behaviour of a prison officer who was working out of HMP Hewell in Worcestershire.
Investigators from the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) found Carla Moskot-Brettell – whilst employed as a prison custody officer - was working together with three others to plan, co-ordinate, and execute a plan to have prohibited articles smuggled into HMP Birmingham.
Moskot-Brettell, aged 35, conspired with her partner, Darren Oakes, who was a serving prisoner within HMP Birmingham.
Moskot-Brettell then also worked alongside Louise Docker and Patricia Bucknell, where they all hatched plans together to take cannabis and tobacco into prison.
But after pro-active investigative work from the ROCU officers, it was found the group of four were planning to prepare and wrap cannabis in cling film before being placed inside a surgical glove that Moskot-Brettell had procured from the prison she worked at.
The packages were laced with spices in an effort to confuse the scent of search dogs deployed at the prison and they were then smuggled into the prison by Bucknell during social visits with Oakes.
Once inside the prison, the packages were placed inside food orders from the social visits canteen and ingested by Oakes who would later induce vomit in his cell to bring the packages back up for consumption.
All four pleaded guilty and were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court last Friday (November 28).
They received the following sentences: Carla Moskot-Brettell, aged 35, was jailed for three years and nine months; Darren Oakes, aged 47, was jailed for three years and nine months; Louise Docker, aged 42, received two years and three months and Patricia Bucknell, aged 51, was jailed for two years and three months
Detective Constable Adam McHugh, from the West Midlands Regional Prison Intelligence Unit, said: “This joint investigation with the HMPPS Counter Corruption Unit demonstrates our shared commitment to uphold the values and conduct that the public expect of prison officers.
"Moskot-Brettell abused her position as a prison officer to participate in criminality that saw contraband smuggled into a prison, the very institution she worked for. The behaviour of Moskot-Brettell clearly erodes public trust and along with her co-conspirators, now faces time behind bars.”
