Inmate at HMP Lindholme convicted for his part in largest ever prison drugs conspiracy

An inmate at HMP Lindholme in Doncaster has been found guilty for his part in the largest ever prison drugs conspiracy in the UK.

Kieran Murphy, 26, used a prison nurse and other defendants including his girlfriend, to get drugs, mobile phones and weapons behind bars.

Prison officers found three carbon fibre lock knives on the wing where he was being housed and police received intelligence that he had had obtained the weapons to harm a prison officer.

Murphy is the seventeenth person convicted as part of the conspiracy involving 37-year-old nursing assistant Amy Hatfield, who smuggled £1 million of illicit substances into HMP Lindholme.

Officers found multiple wraps of cannabis, tobacco, anabolic steroids, vials of liquid, MDMA, mobile phones and phone chargers in her belongings.

She also had several bottles of 'Ribena' on her which contained a liquid form of spice.

Hatfield pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs, and conspiracy to smuggle knives and phones into prison, as well as money laundering.

Murphy was charged with conspiracy to convey knives, drugs and mobiles phones into prison.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to the drugs and phones but, having denied conspiring to convey knives, was found guilty after a four-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Detective Sergeant Gareth Gent from South Yorkshire Police said: "We are extremely pleased that the jury saw through Murphy’s lies to find him guilty of conspiring to get knives into a custodial setting.

"There can be only one reason that knives are required inside of a prison and that is to cause someone serious harm or even death.

"We have no doubt that the action taken by our team in foiling Murphy’s plans had prevented serious harm coming to one of our colleagues within the prison service."