A prison officer who smuggled contraband into her place of work has been jailed.
Barbara Peters was paid £9,000 to bring goods into HMP Altcourse on 15 occasions across three months which included concealing tobacco in her bra.
Other items smuggled in included mobile phone chargers and bottles of vodka with the latter concealed in Evian water bottles for payment of £500 a time.
The 57-year-old began working at the Category B men’s prison in 2022 before being arrested in June 2023 at her new job at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Peters’ defence team argued that she had been ’emotionally blackmailed’ and ‘manipulated’ by prisoners on the wing during her time working at Altcourse.
However the former Seaforth resident received a 10-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to convey banned items into the prison during her employment.
Judge David Swinnerton said: “It seems to me that there was an element of greed, as well as an element of being manipulated and used.
“There is mitigation in the fact that time has passed. This was now two years ago.
“You have got on with your life, stayed out of trouble, got yourself a job and moved yourself to Scotland.
“The question, of course, is whether that sentence has to be immediate or not. I have thought carefully about it.
“On the one hand, I have sympathy for you as somebody who perhaps found yourself out of your depth with the people that you were dealing with.
“On the other hand, you knew full well that you should not have been smuggling into prison. It does not take a genius to realise that. You did it 15 times, and you were paid a total of £9,000 to do it.
“The message has to go out. However much you were being manipulated, you can report that.
“I think you now know that you should have reported it immediately at the outset, before the threats got too much.
“You do not have to have much training to know that you do not bring these items into prison.
“Because of that, and because you have done it 15 times, I take the view, with some sorrow and regret, that it has to be immediate custody.
“You will not serve very long. In your case, the punishment and message is that you are going to prison at all.”