Wrexham prison tutor jailed for drugs offences at HMP Berwyn

Jason Taylor, of Prestwich Gardens in Llay, appeared for sentence at Mold Crown Court on Thursday morning.

The 52-year-old had previously admitted two offences of conveying prohibited items into HMP Berwyn, as well as an offence of possession with intent to supply class B drugs.

Laura Knightly, prosecuting, told the court that at the time of the offences, in June 2021, Taylor was employed by Novus Cambria - HMP Berwyn's education department.

On June 16, a prison officer noted a smell of cannabis around envelopes which had been deposited into internal mailboxes.

Checks revealed one of the envelopes contained 186g of the substance - and another had 75 sheets of paper containing spice.

Of those 75 sheets, 30 had been printed with court-related documentation, which the court heard was an attempt to avoid closer inspection.

As a result of the find, an investigation was launched and Taylor was identified as the perpetrator.

Because all incoming mail would have been checked, it became obvious that the envelopes could only have been posted internally.

CCTV confirmed the suspicion - with Taylor seen on June 9 that year placing brown envelopes in the mail trays shortly before going on to complete anti-corruption training.

He was seen once again placing envelopes in the trays on June 15, which was the occasion leading to his charges.

When his home was searched, 131 further sheets of spice paper were found - 20 of which were printed with court documentation.

Ms Knightly said the cannabis seized would have been worth up to £530 on the street, but could have fetched more than £2,600 in a prison setting.

The total spice paper value was assessed as being upwards of £60,000 - but again would have been more in prison.

Simon Rogers, defending, told the court: "The best mitigation is obviously his guilty pleas because they are the best indication of remorse and also an acceptance by him of the responsibility for his offending.

Jason Taylor (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police)"He has no previous convictions, cautions and reprimands against him and has been hard working and industrious throughout his life in various capacities; including college-based education and commercial training for 25 years.

"Stupidly, he became involved in this offending when he was teaching at HMP Berwyn after being approached by inmates.

"He will forever regret becoming involved."

Mr Rogers asked the court to consider suspending any custodial term due to his client's good previous record, his early guilty pleas and importantly the delay in bringing the case to court.

Judge Rhys Rowlands agreed the time taken to reach Thursday's proceedings had been significant, telling the defendant: "Unfortunately, the investigation took far, far too long.

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"This sort of delay simply can't be countenanced in this day and age."

But he found that the offending was simply too serious to consider anything other than an immediate term of imprisonment.

The Judge told Taylor: "You were employed as an employability tutor at Berwyn prison - a role you performed for 18 months.

"It followed on from previous similar work at other custodial establishments, so you'd have been well aware of what was expected of you and of the prohibitions on possession of illicit drugs in prison.

"Despite that, you chose to bring significant amounts of cannabis and spice into your place of work and were seen to send them out to three prisoners by putting them in envelopes for the internal mail system.

"Fortunately they were intercepted, and they had clearly been sent from the education department."

Taylor was jailed for a total of 32 months.