A MAN who attempted to smuggle heroin to a convicted drug dealer at the Verne Prison has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Ricky John Hawkins, 30, was sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court after admitting possession of a class A controlled drug with intent to supply and conveying a prohibited article into a prison.

Scott Stemp, prosecuting, said that on the afternoon of October 16 last year Hawkins attended the Portland jail to visit Jonathan Tagart, who was three months into a prison sentence for the supply of class A drugs.

Mr Stemp said as Hawkins went through the check-in procedure, the defendant’s manner drew the attention of officers.

He said: “Mr Hawkins appeared to the officers to be nervous and twitchy. Whilst he was sat in the visitors room speaking with Mr Tagart, he was seen to put his left hand down the front of his trousers.

“Officers assumed he was about to try and pass an item to Mr Tagart.”

Mr Stemp said Hawkins was taken away to be searched and eventually removed a white package from his trousers, which contained six individual wraps.

The wraps were found to contain heroin, with a total weight of 10.4 grams.

Mr Stemp said the street value of the drugs was estimated at £1,000 but in prison they could be worth up to £3,000.

Tim Shorter, mitigating, said Hawkins, of Commercial Road, Weymouth, had simply responded to a request by Mr Tagart and was not in line to make any profit from bringing the drugs in.

He said: “There is no suggestion of any gain for Mr Hawkins.

“It was an associate asking for a favour and Mr Hawkins ultimately tried to bring that into effect. It is Mr Hawkins’ misfortune that he gave in and he knows he can expect a substantial prison sentence.”

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendant: “Taking drugs into prison is always viewed with deep anxiety by the courts. The presence of drugs in a prison is entirely corrosive.”

Judge Jarvis sentenced Hawkins to three years for the possession of heroin with intent to supply and two years for the offence of conveying a prohibited article into a prison, ordering that the sentences be served concurrently.

Police's Operation Dismantle

THE intended recipient of Mr Hawkins’ drugs was Jonathan Tagart, who was jailed for more than five and a half years last July for six charges of selling heroin to an undercover police officer.

The offences took place in Weymouth in November and December, 2009 when an undercover police officer was operating in the town as part of a Dorset Police crackdown on the local drug trade, known as Operation Dismantle.

After committing the offences Tagart, formerly of Spa Road, Weymouth, fled to Spain and was finally arrested in June of last year at Bristol Airport when he returned to take care of his ill mother.