A WOMAN tried to smuggle drugs hidden inside her body into a jail during a visit to a prisoner.

Stacey Scawthorn, 31, from Caerphilly, was arrested after trying to take buprenorphine, a strong opioid painkiller, into Bridgend’s Parc Prison.

Roger Griffiths, prosecuting, said the defendant was stopped attempting to sneak in 11 tablets of the class C drug.

He told Cardiff Crown Court that Scawthorn refused a strip search before telling prison officers she had a package hidden inside her.

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“She said she didn’t know what was inside the package as it had been dropped off to her.”

Mr Griffiths said officers recovered the buprenorphine tablets which had been wrapped inside two fingers cut from a plastic glove.

He added that when she was questioned, Scawthorn said she had “felt pressurised” into smuggling the drugs in.

The defendant, of Wernddu Court, pleaded guilty to conveying a prohibited substance into prison.

The offence took place on November 15, 2019.

Gareth Williams, mitigating, said: “Miss Scawthorn is a vulnerable person who is attracted to the wrong type.

“She has made poor choices of partners. She can be manipulated into doing things and she has low self-esteem.

“She was taken advantage of.”

He added that a prison sentence would have a “devastating effect” on his client who was a mother who was capable of being rehabilitated.

The judge, Recorder Simon Mills, told Scawthorn: “Drugs wreak havoc in prison. They are incredibly harmful.

“Sadly, all kinds of drugs, class A, B and C are available there.

“One of the ways they get in is through visitors.

“There are all sorts of contraband that get in. Mobile phones, SIM cards and the rest of it.”

He jailed the defendant for four months, suspended for 18 months.

She must carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and pay a £149 victim surcharge.