Man jailed after trying to make a ‘quick £150’ throwing drugs into a Suffolk prison

A man who hoped to make “a quick £150” by throwing a package containing drugs over a fence at a Suffolk prison has been jailed for 14 months.

Robbie Holliday was detained after a prison dog handler at Highpoint prison, who was acting on information, lay in wait for him near the perimeter fence, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Holliday was seen to run towards the fence but ran off and jumped into a ditch when he saw the prison officer, said Mary Jacobson, prosecuting.

When the officer caught up with him and told him “not to be so stupid” Holliday stopped running and was found in possession of a tennis ball sized package wrapped in cling film containing hand rolled cigarettes and 72g of cannabis leaf and resin.

Holliday told police he had been offered money to throw the package over the perimeter fence and had hoped to make a “quick £150”.

Holliday, 33, of Brindles, Canvey Island, Essex, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to attempting to throw a prohibited item into Highpoint Prison, Stradishall, on August 18 last year.

Sentencing him Judge David Pugh said that such offences, if completed, had a serious effect on the running of prisons.

Jonathan Ingram, for Holliday, who has 30 previous convictions, said his client had kept out of trouble for a year and wanted to turn over a new leaf.