A MOTHER has been jailed after she admitted smuggling drugs into HMP Berwyn, with the judge telling her a deterrent sentence was required.

Chelsea Bennion, 28, of Galaxy Grove in Brynteg, Wrexham, took 99 tablets in two Kinder Eggs during a visit to the prison in October 2018. The Buprenorphine tablets were worth £50 each in the prison – a total of £4,950.

Jailing her for 30 weeks at the Mold Crown Court hearing, Judge Rhys Rowlands said the offences was too serious for the sentence to be suspended and must act as a deterrent to highlight the effect of drugs in prison.

Bennion had been on post sentence supervision at the time of the offence, after being released from prison herself for supplying cannabis.

Judge Rowlands said the number of tablets, their value behind bars, plus the untold problems drugs caused for staff and prisoners alike, were all aggravating features.

He took into account her guilty plea, a letter the defendant had written to the court, and the delay in bringing the case to court, which he criticised both the police and CPS about.

During that delay, she had moved on with her life and, while her two children did not live with her, she was seeing them regularly.

She was in a new relationship with hopes for the future.

But he said: “People need to realise that if they take drugs into prison then consequences will follow.

“This behaviour is far too serious to enable me to draw back.

“It is simply impossible to suspend the sentence in your case.”

Prosecuting, Anna Pope said the defendant had been visiting prisoner Ryan Wolfe and the drugs were passed to him under a coat as they sat next to each other.

A prison guard became suspicious and approached Wolfe, 29, of Nuneaton. The two eggs - one containing 50 tablets and the other 49 - were discovered hidden in the leg of his trousers.

Wolfe, serving six years for assault at the time, admitted conveying the prohibited drug into the prison and received an additional eight months at a hearing last month.

A statement from the custody manager showed the effect of drugs in prison, including inmates getting into debt, assaults, prisoners falling back into drug abuse and encouraging gang culture.

Defending, Matthew Curtis said the defendant had written a letter to the court in which she had expressed genuine remorse.

There had been a long delay in the case and during that time his client had been able to put her life in order.

Her drug use was now behind her, she was in a new relationship and it was hoped her two children could be returned to live with her full time. She was working part time in a supermarket and she and her partner had also established a business which had the prospect of future growth.