A pharmacy technician who sneaked drugs and SIM cards into the prison she worked at has been jailed for more than six years.
Avon and Somerset Police said Tanya Petrie, 61, was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court of “conspiring to bring or convey a list A prohibited article” into a prison.
She “previously pleaded guilty to conveying a list B prohibited article into a prison”, it added, and was sentenced on February 16 to six years and three months’ imprisonment.
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Petrie, who was working as a pharmacy technician at HMP Bristol at the time, was seen by police “retrieving an item from a wheelie bin in the front garden of a property” on Somerdale Avenue in Bristol on October 17, 2023.
Police said one of the occupants of the property was Casey Collins, 23, who “was responsible for placing the item in the bin for Petrie to collect”.
Petrie then arrived at HMP Bristol for work and was “detained, searched and subsequently arrested on suspicion of being part of a conspiracy to take prohibited items into a prison”, they added.
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She gave officers a “cling film-wrapped package” during a search in custody that was “later discovered to contain four packages of class B drugs, two packages of class A drugs” - namely cocaine - and tobacco.
Avon and Somerset Police said officers then “conducted in-depth data analysis” and discovered “two phone numbers which were being used within the prison”.
A phone was linked to prisoner Kyle Joyner, 32, who had been using it to contact Collins, it added.
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Police said “further investigative enquiries” led them to believe that Petrie “had made an earlier trip to Somerdale Avenue” on October 9, 2023.
And Petrie admitted in an interview that she “had taken money from the wheelie bin” and used it to “purchase SIM cards from a local garage”, which she then sneaked into the prison and gave to a prisoner, they added.
Joyner, Collins and Petrie were all charged in the summer of 2024.
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Joyner and Collins “pleaded guilty to conveying list A prohibited items into the prison” last January and were jailed for three years and two years and four months, respectively.
Joyner’s sentence will be served in addition to his existing prison sentence of eight years and eight months, police said.
“Abusing her position”
Senior investigating officer DI Tim Seaman said the case “shows the proactive and determined work carried out” to “uncover and dismantle a criminal conspiracy operating both inside and outside the prison walls”.
“By working closely with colleagues at HMP Bristol, HM Prison and Probation Service Counter Corruption and the Regional Prison Corruption team within the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, we were able to swiftly identify the actions of a member of staff who was abusing her position of trust to smuggle dangerous drugs and illicit items into the prison,” he added.
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He said “such actions enable organised crime, fuel violence and undermine the hard work of honest staff who dedicate themselves to running secure and rehabilitative environments”.
“This investigation sends a clear message: our investigations into organised crime will identify those who facilitate organised criminality and we will work tirelessly with our partners, and use every tactic available to bring those involved in corruption to justice - regardless of their role or position.”
