A jailed drug dealer was caught with a contraband mobile phone thanks to a suspicious line of clothing dangling from his cell window.
Perth Prison staff investigated Reece Smith’s room after being alerted to the hanging chain of garments, which could be seen from the outside of the building.
The phone was found in the first weeks of lockdown but before prisoners were issued with state-approved devices.
Smith, who was previously part of a plot to bring £38,000 of drugs into Dundee, had been “desperate” to contact his family, the court heard.
The 29-year-old appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitting having the illicit mobile in his cell on June 18 2020.
On the line
Fiscal depute Rebecca Kynaston told the court: “At about 2pm prison officers entered the accused’s cell, having been told about a line coming from his window.
“They saw the line of clothing leading into the accused’s bed.
“Attached to the line was a small mobile phone.”
At the time, Smith, of Drumlanrig Drive, Dundee, was serving a near-two year sentence for a brutal assault on a remand prisoner.
In March that year, Smith had appeared in court to admit a revenge attack on Neil Hand, just a few months before he was found dead in his cell.
The court was told the two men should not have been on the same wing of the prison but overcrowding meant Smith – who was on remand – had been placed in the hall with convicted prisoners.
Hand was moved to HMP Low Moss after Smith battered him repeatedly with a pool cue.
‘Desperate times’
Of the phone offence, solicitor Amy Fox, defending, said Smith had borrowed the device to make urgent calls to his partner.
“It was a case of desperate times and he was simply trying to make contact with his family,” the lawyer said.
Sheriff Francis Gill told Smith: “The court regards this as a serious offence.”
Jailing him for three months, the sheriff said: “I take into account your lengthy record of previous convictions.”
In 2017, Smith appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court and admitted being concerned in the supply of chloromethcathinone — a stimulant — and benzocaine.
