Queen’s Park woman jailed for prison smuggling plot
Pattrina Stevenson-Francis has been jailed (Pic credit: Herts Police) - Credit: Archant
A woman from Queen’s Park who tried to smuggle drugs and booze to her husband in jail has become a prisoner herself.
Pattrina Stevenson-Francis, 33, of Third Avenue, plotted with Owen Foster to hurl a bag containing drugs, alcohol and mobile phones over a wall into The Mount Prison in Hemel Hempstead.
Luton Crown Court heard the plan was thwarted by prison officers who saw Foster behaving suspiciously resulting in him fleeing and leaving the bag on a tree near the scene in April last year.
The mother-of-three was traced by a receipt for one of the phones in the bag.
Her husband Jerome Francis, 33, of Hill Top Avenue, Stonebridge, was serving a sentence in the prison at the time.
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On Friday, Stevenson-Francis was found guilty of conspiring to supply a Class A drug (heroin), conspiring to supply a drug of Class B (cannabis) and conspiring to convey prohibited items (mobile phone and alcohol) and jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Her husband was cleared of identical charges on the direction of the judge.
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Sentencing her, Judge Stuart Bridge said: “It is well known that the presence of contraband causes profound difficulties to officers seeking to maintain order and discipline in the prison environment.
“They also create a black market economy leading to bullying and extortion. The courts have to send out a message of deterrence.”
Stevenson-Francis had served an 18 months sentence in 2006 after throwing a pack of cannabis over a prison wall on the Isle of Wight where her husband was serving a sentence.
Foster pleaded guilty to the same charges and was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Related links: Couple accused of trying to smuggle contraband into prisonStonebridge man acquitted of prison smuggling plot, Queen’s Park wife still on trial
