SEVEN men and two women attended Birmingham Magistrates Court on Monday, May 22 charged with supplying prohibited items into prisons, including HMP Hewell between Redditch and Bromsgrove.
The charges come after an investigation by West Mercia Police and HM Prison Service into the supply of drugs, weapons and other prohibited articles into HMP Hewell, HMP Birmingham in Winson Green, HMP Stoke Heath in Shropshire and HMP Featherstone in Wolverhampton.
The offences ranged from throwing items into prisons to the sophisticated use of drones to fly things in.
Eight individuals will face charges of conspiring to supply prohibited items into prisons:
They are: Yvonne Hay, 42 from Bloxwich Road, Walsall, Craig Hickenbottom, 34, formerly of HMP Hewell, Lisa Hodgetts, 32, from Lye Cross Road, Tividale, Oldbury, Terry Leach, 19, from Wednesbury Oak Road, Tipton, John Quinn, 35, from Swancroft Road, Tipton, Sanjay Patel, 37, of no fixed abode, Ashley Rollinson, 21, from Highgate Road, Dudley, and
Francis Ward, 45, from Bloxwich Road, Walsall.
Artaf Hussain, 30, from Slater Street, Tipton, will also appear to face one charge of conspiring to supply prohibited articles into prisons and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
They will all appear at Birmingham Crown Court on June 23.
Mervyn Foster, 37, from High Street, Princes End, Tipton, and John Hickenbottom, 50, formerly of HMP Hewell, will attend Birmingham Magistrates Court this Friday, May 26, in relation to charges of conspiring to supply prohibited items into prisons.
