Guard smuggled drugs into prison in Pot Noodle

Former prison officer Victoria Sked has been jailed after she was caught smuggling drugs into HMP Lindholme

A prison officer who smuggled drugs into her workplace in a Pot Noodle has been jailed for more than three years.

Victoria Sked, 32, was part of a wider smuggling and money laundering enterprise involving inmates at HMP Lindholme, near Doncaster, and their associates.

The criminal network, consisting of prisoners, their partners and relatives, flooded the jail with mobiles phones, steroids, tobacco and other banned items between 2018 and 2019.

Sked, now incarcerated at HMP New Hall, was one of 10 defendants sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday after they all admitted their roles in the plot.

According to South Yorkshire Police, Sked, who lived in Stainforth, Doncaster, at the time, had been just days away from leaving her role in the prison service when she was arrested on suspicion of conveying prohibited articles into prison in 2018.

During the initial search of her person, drugs such as MDMA and cannabis as well as vials of steroids, mobile phones and tobacco were found.

Searches at her home later recovered 22 mobile phones, drugs, £7,900 in cash and a list of her accomplices who had helped distribute contraband between 2018 and 2019.

Simie McGinley, Jack McGlen, Gareth Roberts and Robert Williams were all inmates at the time and were involved in the illegal supply of drugs and other contraband.

McGinley's partner Ayesha Martin, McGlen's partner Alicia Harrison and Roberts' girlfriend Diane Monks were all caught trying to bring drugs into the prison.

Others involved in the criminal network included Darren Morgan, Adam Kirk and Abigail Cater, the sister of an inmate.

From left to right: Inmates Gareth Roberts, Robert Williams, Jack McGlen and Simie McGinley

Those sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday are:

• Sked, 32, formerly of Station Road, Stainforth, Doncaster was jailed for three years and 11 months for money laundering, smuggling drugs, mobile phones and SIM cards into prison.

• Gareth Roberts, 38, of Manor Farm Drive, Middleton, Leeds, who was an inmate at HMP Lindholme at the time, jailed for three-and-a-half years for drug smuggling and money laundering.

• Another inmate at the time, Robert Williams, 36, of Brignall Garth, Burmantofts, Leeds, was jailed for one year and 10 months for drug smuggling and possession of a prohibited article, namely a mobile phone.

• Ayesha Martin, 30, of Baring Gould Way, Wakefield was jailed for three years and six months for drug smuggling, money laundering and smuggling mobile phones and SIM cards into prison.

• Simie McGinley, 31, from Ossett and now of HMP Stocken Hall, was jailed for one year and six months for drug smuggling, money laundering, smuggling mobile phones and SIM cards into prison and possession of a prohibited article.

• Jack McGlen, 33, of Woodbridge Lawn, Kirkstall, Leeds, a HMP Lindholme inmate at the time of offending, was jailed for four years for drug smuggling, money laundering, and possession of a prohibited article, namely a mobile phone.

• Darren Morgan, 45, of Renee Close, Bradford was jailed for four years and ten months for drug smuggling, money laundering and possession of diamorphine and cocaine with intent to supply.

• Adam Kirk, 35, of Fir Tree Approach, Alwoodley, Leeds, was jailed for two years and four months for drug smuggling, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and while over the specified limit for drugs.

• Alicia Harrison, 27, of Woodbridge Crescent, Kirkstall, Leeds, was handed a 21-month sentence, suspended for 12 months for drug smuggling and money laundering.

• Abigail Carter, 24, of Alderley, Skelmersdale, was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for a year for drug smuggling and money laundering.

Ayesha Martin, Diane Monks and Alicia Harrison, who were all partners of inmates

Monks, 46, of Highfield Villas, Sherburn in Elmet, Leeds, who pleaded guilty to smuggling cannabis and Spice, will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court next Friday.

Another defendant, Lydia Ratcliffe, 30, of Chestnut Grove, Hyde Park, Leeds, was given a 12-month conditional discharge at Sheffield Crown Court in July 2024.

She had pleaded guilty to transmitting, or causing to be transmit, any image from inside a prison.

She was found not guilty of a money laundering offence.

Abigail Carter, Darren Morgan and Adam Kirk have all been jailed

Det Con Scott Jarvis from South Yorkshire Police said: "They all played their part in creating this elaborate web of drug smuggling and money laundering that they thought was intangible, and it is thanks to the hard work of this unit in bringing the conspirators of these crimes to justice."

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