A MAN who was part of a plot to throw drugs over the prison walls, thin them down and sell them on has had his jail term extended by three years.
On hearing the sentence, Joshua Peter O’Brien (37) told the Bailiff: “I think that’s a very fair sentence.”
He was sentenced for supplying cocaine, supplying cannabis, conveying cannabis into prison, possession of methylphenidate, and possession of diazepam, after he was caught in HMP La Moye with diazepam, cocaine and cannabis – and a vape with cannabis residue.
O’Brien has more than 100 previous convictions and was already serving a jail sentence at the time of his offending.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said prison officers searched his cell in October 2022.
“The defendant requested his vape during the search. Before providing this to him, the prison officers inspected the vape and noted there was a brown substance on the end of the vape which smelled strongly of cannabis.”
They found pills and pieces of paper with brown stains in his cell. These were later revealed to be nine pills of diazepam, 599 milligrams of cocaine and 1.77 grams of cannabis resin.
“A prison officer located a rubber glove inside the toilet with toilet paper underneath. Thinking this was suspicious, he proceeded to flush the toilet which revealed broken mobile phone parts.
“When these parts were shown to the defendant, he suggested they had been planted by prison officers.”
He later claimed the phone had been flushed from the toilet directly above – which the court heard was “virtually impossible”.
Data from Sure later showed he had been messaging his partner – telling her he had the only mobile “in the whole jail” and planning to get cannabis delivered to the prison.
Together with Shane Derek Lloyd, who was sentenced in 2023 for trying to get drugs into the prison, he planned “a dummy test”.
Messages showed how he was hoping to receive 2g of cocaine, cut it to make 10g, and sell it for £150 per gram – making a £200 profit and paying £2,000 to Lloyd.
The day after O’Brien’s cell was searched, he spoke to his partner on the landline in his cell – which comes with a warning that calls are recorded.
When she told him that police officers were looking in her car, he told her to “get rid of the ‘thingy’, to swallow it, snap it, do whatever you’ve got to do – get rid of it’,” Crown Advocate Carvalho said.
Mr O’Brien represented himself in court.
He told the court that he had been ready to be sentenced in April – but that prosecutors had disagreed with his version of events, which created delays. The extra hearings were ultimately dropped.
Being on remand, he said, meant that he wasn’t able to access some of the prison’s programmes or conditional early release.
He said that since 2022, the prison had tried to handle similar cases as external charges, rather than using internal disciplinary procedures. But, he said, he knew of nine seizures that had been dealt with internally.
“I am still the only prisoner to have been dealt with in this manner,” he said.
He added that since he was jailed, his relationship, friendships and family links had suffered.
He promised: “When I do leave custody, I will leave with absolutely no place in my life for criminality.”
The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, sentenced him to a total of three years.
Detective Sergeant Jim McGranahan, who leads the Drug Squad, said: “We are committed to bringing offenders before the courts and this sentence sends a clear message that these crimes will not be tolerated.”
The Jurats sitting were Karen Le Cornu, Andrew Cornish, Alison Opfermann, Michael Entwistle and Michael Berry.
