Man got himself arrested so he could smuggle drugs into prison

A man deliberately got himself arrested so he could smuggle drugs he’d hidden in his body into prison. Gary Davidson, 45, knew the drugs he had hidden would be worth much more in prison than the £330 he would have got for them on the street in Carlisle. So he stole a bottle of sherry from the city’s Iceland store confident that he would be arrested and remanded in custody to Durham jail. And when it seemed his ruse might fail by being allowed bail he told police he would be “back within an hour” because he would go out and steal something else.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Davidson, who had no fixed address, was jailed for 28 months after he admitted possessing cannabis, a class B drug, and subutex, which is listed as class C, with intent to supply them. He pleaded guilty on the basis that he intended to give the drugs to friends. But after hearing evidence Judge Paul Batty QC rejected that explanation and said he was certain Davidson had meant to sell the drugs in prison. Prosecuting counsel Brendan Burke told the court that Davidson, who had an “appalling” criminal record with 70 previous appearances in court, had already been arrested for shoplifting three times in the few days before June 14, when he was taken into custody again for stealing the sherry.



When he was taken into the cells at the Durranhill police station, police noticed how keen he was to be locked up. Insp Dan St Quentin told the court he was “struck by his general demeanour” and by his “strange” eagerness to be remanded in custody. Davidson was “cocky” when he was strip searched, the inspector said, and told officers – correctly – that they would not find any drugs on him. The 6cm package – contained in a condom and a Kinder egg – was found only when he was X-rayed after being taken to the Cumberland Infirmary for an internal search. The package was later recovered by police, the court heard.

In evidence, Davidson – who became addicted to subutex, a substance commonly used to enhance the power of other drugs, while he was serving an earlier sentence in Durham prison – said he would have used the drugs himself. He said he had concealed them in his person because it was the safest place to keep them since he was homeless and having to stay with friends. He admitted he hoped to take them into prison, but said he would have used them himself to avoid the expense of having to buy them from someone else. Judge Batty dismissed that explanation too, saying it was obvious that Davidson had deliberately got himself arrested so he could have taken the drugs into the prison to sell them there. “He was determined to get himself remanded in custody in the knowledge that he had these valuable commodities inside him,” he said.