Flint duo jailed for drugs smuggle in Mars bar wrapper

Two Flint men have been jailed for 21 months each after attempting to smuggle almost £20,000 worth of drugs into HMP Berwyn hidden in a Mars bar wrapper.

Christopher Beck, 35, of Trelawney Avenue, and Graham Duncan, 56, of Avondale, were caught after a sniffer dog raised the alarm during a prison visit on 22nd July 2023.

Beck had been visiting his friend and inmate Duncan at the Wrexham prison when they met in the Visitors’ Hall for nine minutes. After the visit, Duncan was searched on his way back to his wing, where staff discovered drugs concealed in a Mars bar wrapper.

The haul included 1.8g of cocaine, 2.04g of ketamine, 32.1g of MDMB (also known as Spice), and 13.2g of cannabis. Prosecutor Matthew Dunford told Mold Crown Court that drugs in prisons are worth five times their community value, putting the total haul between £7,500 and £19,500.

Beck was identified from CCTV footage 16 months later. Both men were arrested and gave no comment answers to police.

Philip Clemo, defending both men, said Beck took the drugs in to pay off a £900 drugs debt. He added that Beck’s mum has “advanced liver cirrhosis.”

Duncan, a first-time offender who had since been released from an earlier sentence, claimed he had been forced to take in the drugs. Otherwise he and his family would have been “in peril,” said Mr Clemo. Duncan had received “glowing conduct reports” while in prison for helping other inmates with their problems.

The judge, His Honour Rhys Rowlands, noted that Beck claimed he thought the wrapper contained tobacco, whilst Duncan said it contained “tobacco and rolling papers.”

Sentencing, the judge said: “Those who are tempted to… involve themselves in taking illicit items (into a prison) must realise that they are almost inevitably going to receive custodial sentences – usually of some length.”

Both men admitted four counts of conveying a prohibited item into a prison and were each jailed for 21 months.