Prison visitor who thought discovery was 'funny' isn't laughing anymore
They called in police who took him to a police station to search him. But when the 42-year-old was asked what was in his underwear he made reference to his genitals.
In fact, there was also a "golf ball" sized package containing ketamine, cannabis resin and "spice". Today a judge at Mold Crown Court said Shaw thought he was being "funny" but now found himself in a court. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
He jailed him for 22 months for each of three counts of conveying a prohibited, List A item into a prison, with two running concurrently. He added four months from part of a suspended sentence for a previous offence.
Prosecutor Laura Knightly said Shaw had been visiting his brother at HMP Berwyn on April 20 last year. During a security check staff suspected him of carrying an item in his groin area in his underwear.
He was taken to the police station and "due to the intimate location" of the package was brought into a room for a strip search, the court heard.
Officers discovered the package which contained 53.4g of ketamine, 45.5g of cannabis resin and 37.3g of MDMB, also known as spice.
Ms Knightly said Shaw said he had been taking the package to his brother and thought it contained tobacco. He believed his brother owed money so it was to be used for his "welfare", he added.
In a statement Mark Hunter, a custodial manager at the Category C prison - the second largest in Europe when fully-operational - said drugs in jails undermine their rehabilitative culture.
They cause debts, assaults, bullying and fear. They generate "a gang culture which affects good order and security," he added.
James Coutts, defending, said his client thought it was tobacco but accepted it was "clearly no excuse" to knowingly and deliberately take such an item into a prison.
The judge Mr Recorder Neil Owen-Casey told Shaw, of Leathers Lane, Halewood, Merseyside: "You had the items wrapped in your underwear. You thought it was funny at the time. You tried to make light of the situation."
However, the judge said he faced a custodial sentence for his crime. Taking drugs into a prison is a "serious, social evil" because their currency there is of greater value than in the community, he added.
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