Inmate used garden work to smuggle drugs into prison
An inmate who had been given special privileges to work in the garden at the entrance of the Isle of Man Prison smuggled drugs and two SIM Cards into the jail.
Scott Carbutt, 42, was randomly searched as he returned to the facility in Jurby on 8 May and officers found a jumper scrunched in the corner of his holding cell containing MDMA, cocaine and ketamine.
Deemster Graeme Cook said it was an "abuse of trust" and he sentenced Carbutt to an additional five years and four months.
Carbutt had been serving a seven-year sentence which was handed down to him in April 2023 for possession of heroin, money laundering, possession of an offensive weapon and wounding with intent.
Douglas Courthouse heard that the jumper had concealed 26g of MDMA, 3g of cocaine and 14g of ketamine.
When the 42-year-old was asked what it was, he said it was cocaine, ketamine and MDMA, which "all belongs to me", and added: "I'm looking at ten years or more for this."
Carbutt pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply of MDMA, cocaine and ketamine and possession of a prohibited articles in an institution.
His defence advocate said Carbutt had been addicted to drugs for a "significant period of time" and when he "came across" them in the garden he "lapsed" and had used some of the drugs himself before going back into the prison.
Sentencing him, Deemster Cook said: "There must have been some planning involved and it seems you knew what you were looking for by your response to prison officers."
Aggravating factors included that the offences took place in a custodial environment, which could cause harm to prison officers and other inmates, and it was an "abuse of trust" given to him, he said.
"I am afraid you will be in prison for quite a few more years."
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Man told postal staff drugs cash parcel was Lego
Isle of Man Courts of Justice
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
29 minutes ago
- Associated Press
A British TV art expert who sold works to a suspected Hezbollah financier is sentenced to prison
LONDON (AP) — An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales took place between October 2020 and December 2021. Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey. In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license. Ojiri sold about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) worth of artworks to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the U.K. and U.S. as a Hezbollah financier. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the U.K. or U.S. from trading with Ahmad or his businesses. 'This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. The Met's investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the U.S., which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies. Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the U.S. Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence. Two years ago, the U.K. Treasury froze Ahmad's assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the U.K. The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bargain Hunt expert jailed for failing to report art sales to ‘Hezbollah financier'
A BBC Bargain Hunt art expert who failed to report a series of high-value art sales to a man suspected of financing militant group Hezbollah has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, sold artwork worth around £140,000 to Nazem Ahmad, a man designated by US authorities as a suspected financier for the Lebanese organisation, a court hearing was told last month. Ojiri, of Brent, north London, previously pleaded guilty to eight offences under section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000. He is believed to be the first person to be charged with the specific offence. The art dealer, who has also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, was charged with failing to disclose information about transactions in the regulated art market sector on or before dates between October 2020 and December 2021. US prosecutors say Mr Ahmad was a 'major Hezbollah financial donor' who used high-value art and diamonds to launder money and fund the group. He is accused of evading terrorism sanctions by using front companies to acquire more than 160 million dollars (£120 million) in artwork and diamond services. Following the introduction of new money laundering regulations in January 2020 that brought the art market under HMRC supervision, Ojiri is said to have discussed the changes with a colleague, indicating awareness of the rules. The court previously heard the total value of the artwork sold was around £140,000. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced Ojiri to two years and six months in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday, with a further year to be spent on licence.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Volunteers spent 25 years building a WWI replica plane. It just took flight.
Last month, a replica World War One plane finally took to the skies above a Royal Air Force station in Scotland. It's been a long time coming—volunteers at the Aviation Preservation Society of Scotland have been working on the project for 25 years, as originally reported by the BBC. 'Every single nut and bolt has been checked, every single bracket has been checked, every single piece of wire has been checked. You don't cobble these things together. When you're going to fly it, it has to be done right,' chairman Mike Harper told the BBC. 'If it was for a museum, if it was just going on display we would probably have finished it within a few years. But the meticulous attention to detail to get this thing in the air is what's taken the length of time.' The plane is a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, a biplane (a type of aircraft with two stacked wings) fighter aircraft the British designed in 1914, built in 1915, and tested in 1916 in response to Germany's monoplane aircraft, the Fokker Eindecker. Though the planes were 'modestly successful,' they quickly became obsolete in the face of Germany's new Albatros aircrafts. The name Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter comes from the unique arrangement of its struts (the thin beams that support the top wings), though the society's volunteers have more sensibly nicknamed their replica 'Sophie.' For now, Sophie is undergoing test flights. Once it completes the test phase and accomplishes five flight hours, it'll be allowed to carry an additional person in the passenger seat behind the pilot, per the BBC. 'I'm used to flying modern aeroplanes from the 50s and 60s—the classics—and they're very different from this aeroplane to fly. This is very much more of a challenge,' aircraft inspector Tim Rayner, who pilots the test flights, told the BBC after May's 15-minute flight. 'The controls are nowhere near as responsive as they became as we developed better technologies. This is 1915 and it's not that many years since the first flight so you've got to look at it as flying as you would expect for an aircraft of that era.' Talk about an ambitious hobby.
