Dagenham woman part of prison smuggling gang

A Dagenham woman was convicted of laundering the proceeds of drugs and other prohibited items which were smuggled into a high-security jail.

Samantha Patten, 25, of Lymington Road, who admitted money laundering, was given a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

She will also be subject to a 11pm to 6am curfew.

Pattern was arrested with former prison officer Richard Carew, 32, of Celt Close, Sittingbourne, Kent, who at the time worked at HMP �Pentonville.

He was jailed for five years for smuggling mobile phones, drugs and other paraphernalia into the prison using �concealed compartments in everyday household items such as clocks or Coke cans.

Acting DetInsp Neil Smithson, from the Metropolitan Police’s anti-corruption team, said: “Carew abused his position of authority in a prison and assisted in setting up a drug-dealing gang with willing participants both i�nside and outside the cells.