A mother who tried to smuggle cannabis into a Suffolk prison in her bra has been jailed for ten months.

Laura Jenkins broke down in tears during her sentencing hearing at Ipswich Crown Court and promised Judge Rupert Overbury she wouldn’t do it again.

However, the judge told her he would be failing in his public duty if he didn’t pass an immediate custodial sentence and added: “It would give everybody else an excuse to take drugs into prison if I didn’t pass a deterrent sentence.”

He said Jenkins had committed the offence for financial gain and had known what the consequences would be if she was caught.

Jenkins, 25, of Humber Way, Slough, admitted conveying cannabis into Highpoint prison in April last year and two offences of possessing amphetamine..

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said Jenkins was stopped while she was going through security at the prison and a package of compressed cannabis weighing 47g was found in her bra.

He said Jenkins had been in communication with a prison inmate asking how she could compress the cannabis and she had looked at a website to found out how to do it.

The court heard that Jenkins regretted committing the offences and had made arrangements for her children to be cared for in the event of her being sent to prison.