Manor Park court officer jailed for helping prisoners
A court security officer who helped violent criminals smuggle drugs and mobile phones into prison has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Serco employee Ashraf Hussain, 23, passed cannabis and handsets to defendants at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
He slipped the contraband to remand prisoners as they travelled to and from HMP Pentonville for hearings.
Hussain, from Manor Park, carried out at least six runs between January and December 2010 and was in regular contact with one inmate.
He earned around �150 each time.
Judge Anthony Pitts told him: “It is a great shame to see a young man of your calibre facing serious charges.
“You were, at the time, doing a good job as a prison custody officer.”
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Hussain was exposed in March 2010 when prison officers monitoring phone calls at HMP Chelmsford overheard an inmate saying “The jailer at Snaresbrook is in on it.”
Cannabis
He was not arrested until December after officers linked him to a number of prisoners who had been caught red-handed.
One of the inmates was found with 22.9g of cannabis in his underpants, while a second male was found to have a mobile phone and Hussain’s number in his cell.
When Hussain was interviewed he confessed smuggling drugs and handsets and taking calls from inmates.
Officers then searched his locker at work, his car and his home but discovered nothing further.
Prosecutor Paul Wakerley told the court: “His response to his arrested was, ‘Yes. I’ve been trying to stop it. I’ve not brought any drugs or phones in for two weeks. They’ve been trying to call to offer more money, but I’ve said no.
“‘I’ve been doing it for about a year’.”
Hussain, of First Avenue, in Manor Park, admitted conspiracy to smuggle list ‘A’ and ‘B’ prohibited articles onto prison estate; misconduct in a public office and unauthorised transmission of image or sound by electronic communication from a prison.
