Mum bragged she was 'best in the North West' at smuggling drugs into prison

A mum bragged that she was the "best in the North West" at smuggling drugs into prison. Katie Wilkinson is believed to have used a hole in her jeans to sneak cocaine and cannabis worth thousands of pounds into jails across the region.

She actively "advertised herself as available" to act as a mule while "desperate" to feed her own habit, having also been involved in peddling illicit substances on the streets. But she today avoided being put behind bars herself.

Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Tuesday, that Wilkinson had attended HMP Risley in Warrington in order to visit an inmate on November 3 2022. However, the 38-year-old, of Spring Gardens in Atherton, Greater Manchester, was spotted passing the prisoner a package which was subsequently found to contain 7.6g of cocaine of 80 per cent purity.

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Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, described how these drugs would be worth up to £7,500 within the prison estate. The parcel also contained 93g of cannabis resin, worth as much as £2,600 behind bars.

Wilkinson was arrested and had her mobile phone seized from her as a result of the incident. When examined, the device was found to contain evidence of her "involvement in the street supply of cocaine".

Messages meanwhile showed that she was also "involved in taking crack cocaine into custodial institutions", including references to smuggling the class A drug into Risley prison, HMP Forest Bank in Salford and HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire. Mr Hopkins cited one text sent "in the context of taking drugs into prison", in which Wilkinson said: "They don't call me Katie, the best in the North West, for nothing."

She also detailed in another message how she "usually plugged it and wore jeans with a hole in" when paying her visits to jails. The prosecutor added that she appeared to be "desperate for drugs" at the time and regularly "asking for money or drugs on tick".

Wilkinson was said to have one "relevant" previous conviction for permitting a premises to be used in the production of cannabis in 2011, for which she received a suspended prison sentence. She had been due to learn her fate over her latest offending earlier this month but failed to appear in court on this occasion after being admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Mark Shanks, defending, told the court: "She did not attend on the last occasion as she was passing out due to her depression and anxiety, linked, unsurprisingly, to this hearing and the worry of what is going to happen to her. She knows exactly what is at the forefront of your honour's mind. She is extremely worried about what is going to happen.

"She is seeing drug counsellors off her own back. She previously would have taken alcohol to self medicate, and that has stopped as well. She has made huge strides.

"It is my submission that this is a very exceptional case, not least because of the time which has elapsed and the excellent work that she has done in getting herself away from figures who have been in her life all of her adult life. It is extremely difficult to remove one's self from these circles, but she has managed to do it.

"She is here today with her partner. She is looking at obtaining work. She is keen to do that. She has started the process of seeking contact with her children, some of whom are adults now.

"There are a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old living with this defendant's parents, who are in ill health. She is instigating, through social services, contact with her three youngest children.

"This is a woman who has made huge strides in her personal life to get herself back to where we want her to be. An immediate term of imprisonment will disrupt that significantly."

Wilkinson admitted two counts of conveying a prohibited article into prison and being concerned in the supply of cocaine. She was handed a 20-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months, a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days.

Judge Neil Flewitt KC said she had been "advertising herself as available" for smuggling drugs into jails but had since made "impressive progress", adding in his sentencing remarks: "I am sure that you appreciate just how close you have come to going into immediate custody.

"It is clear from what the Court of Appeal has said, that people in your situation, however much sympathy the court may have, should go to prison to deter other people from doing the same thing.

"But there are, in my judgement, some unusual features of this case. The most significant of these is that there has been a long and unjustified delay in getting to this stage.

"The offences which you committed involved taking cocaine and cannabis resin into prison, the street supply of crack cocaine and taking crack cocaine into prison on a number of occasions back in the autumn of 2022, at a time in your life when you were chronically addicted to class A drugs and would do anything to get drugs. A lot has changed since then.

"You have done everything you could reasonably be expected to do to put that behind you. You tell me that you are no longer addicted to drugs, you have a new, non-abusive partner, you have stable accommodation, you are taking all the support offered to you and you are seeking to reengage with your children.

"I hope for your sake and their sake that things continue to move forward. I imagine that the last thing you want is to go back to the sort of desperation that controlled your life in 2022.

"I am going to take a wholly exceptional course and suspend the sentence of imprisonment, because I am satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and because I think that if it is not done now then it is probably never going to happen.

"If you go back to prison and lose everything you have worked for, the chances of you relapsing are quite high. If you keep at that and get through this period of the suspended sentence, hopefully you will be able to live a life clean from drugs. If you fall back into old ways, you will fall back to me and I will remember today."