The ringleader of a gang who smuggled drugs and phones into prisons using drones has been jailed for seven years and two months.

Former armed robber Craig Hickinbottom, 35, organised the flights from behind bars, Birmingham Crown Court was told. His gang put contraband worth an estimated £1m into jails as far apart as the West Midlands and Scotland.

The packages were attached to fishing lines and flown over prison walls. Nine others were also sentenced.

The group were convicted of organising 49 drone flights, although police believe the actual number may be higher. They were also found guilty of four “throw-overs”. One of the gang, Craig Hickinbottom’s brother, was seen with an improvised hook, ready to collect the goods from inside prison.

The gang were caught by chance, by cameras set up to film wildlife outside HMP Hewell in Worcestershire. Footage shows two of the men in a field, preparing a drone for flight, before sending it over the hedge to the prison grounds.

Inside, the packages – some of which were specifically ordered – were retrieved by inmates using makeshift tools. Prison CCTV then showed others visiting their cells and walking out with packages.

As well as drugs and phones, the gang smuggled in weapons, screwdrivers, and a Freeview box with remote control.

Drone pilot Mervyn Foster, 36, of Tipton, West Midlands, was jailed for six years and eight months for his part in the plot. He was said to be the gang’s prime organiser on the outside.
Both he and Hickinbottom pleaded guilty to conspiring to bring prohibited items into prison, and conspiracy to supply psychoactive substances. Hickinbotton was serving a sentence at HMP Featherstone in Staffordshire, and later Hewell, while organising the deliveries.

The offences, which were committed between July 2015 and May this year, also took place at jails in Birmingham, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Liverpool, and Perth.

His 50-year-old brother, John, was jailed for four years and eight months for his “significant” role, while his “right-hand man” John Quinn, 35, was jailed for four years and eight months, after admitting the same charges – and conspiring to throw an article into prison. His 32-year-old partner, Lisa Hodgetts, from Tividale, West Midlands, admitted money laundering and was given a 16-month suspended prison term.

Passing sentence, Judge Roderick Henderson said: “Prisons are difficult enough places to run – they contain people who are dangerous and vulnerable. “Supplying things into prison that should not be there – drugs, phones, tools and the like – threatens proper management… and creates real risks of violence and loss of control and discipline”.

Gareth Sands, governor at HMP Hewell, said the drones were a “gamechanger” that “literally came from nowhere”.

The gang were able to breach the perimeters “almost effortlessly”, he said, adding that procedures had been tightened up in the wake of the case.

Four other men were sentenced after pleading guilty:

Francis Ward, 46, was jailed for two years and four months imprisonment for conspiring to bring prohibited items into prison, and conspiracy to supply psychoactive substances
Sanjay Patel, 38, was jailed for five years and three months for possessing an electronic communication device whilst in custody
Ashley Rollinson, 23, was jailed for 11 months for conspiracy to bring prohibited articles into prison
Terry Leach, 19, was given a two year suspended prison sentence for conspiracy to bring prohibited articles into prison
Yvonne Hay, 41, was jailed for two years and four months after being convicted of conspiring to bring prohibited items into prison, and conspiracy to supply psychoactive substances