Mum kissed inmate while slipping £10k of ketamine and cannabis into his trousers

A mum visiting an inmate in prison was caught kissing him and putting £10,000 of drugs into his trousers at the same time. Kirkby mum Nicola Gubb managed to evade security at Wrexham's HMP Berwyn to bring in ketamine and cannabis but was later detected trying to slip Liam Mooney the drugs.

Mold Crown Court heard Gubb, 48, travelled from her home on Merseyside on July 17 2022 to visit Mooney at the prison. Prosecutor Thomas McLoughlin told the court: "She kissed Mr Mooney and passed packages in and around his groin area - seen by staff."

Prison officers searched Mooney and found ketamine and two clingfilm packages of cannabis resin. Mr McLoughlin said the value of drugs in prison is five times their value outside due to "demand and scarcity". Collectively the drugs were worth between £1,084 and £10,840, he said.

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Gubb was arrested and told police she had been "bullied and scared" by an organised crime group but did not provide names or specific details. Her defence counsel Joshua Gorst said she suffers from "quite profound panic attacks" and is due to see a psychiatrist on November 25.

Mr Gorst said: "She finds it difficult to leave the house and go to unfamiliar areas." But His Honour Judge Rhys Rowlands, presiding, told Gubb she had managed to travel from her home in Kirkby to Wrexham.

NorthWalesLive reported that Gubb, of Birkin Road in Kirkby, admitted two counts of bringing a prohibited article into a prison at a late stage of the proceedings. The court heard the drugs had a significant value, but Gubb's defence counsel told the judge he could make the exceptional course of suspending her sentence due to the fact she is a mum and carer for two children.

The judge ultimately agreed and sentenced Gubb to nine months in prison, suspended for 12 months, plus 20 days of rehabilitation activity. Gubb was also ordered to pay £178. Mooney's case is set to be heard at a later date.