Woman used drone to smuggle phones and drugs into HMP Peterborough

A woman who used a drone to smuggle mobile phones and cannabis into HMP Peterborough prison has been sentenced.

Nicola Rigitha, 23, of Morland Court, Peterborough, used the technology to fly a package to a prisoner on 25 June 2021.

Now police have said they ‘will not tolerate’ people trying to smuggle items into jails, after Rigitha was sentenced at crown court.

Prison officers were alerted to the drone flying within the grounds and witnessed it approach a third-floor window where the occupant took it through a hole in his window.

Inside his cell they found a football sock containing 10 miniature mobile phones, seven packs of cigarette papers, six packs of tobacco, cannabis and a Zanco mobile phone.

They traced his phone calls from the prison and arrested Rigitha at her home. Inside they found a box for the Zanco mobile phone.

Police said that the cannabis was thought to have a prison value of £5,800 and the tobacco worth £3,000.

At Peterborough Crown Court Rigitha last week, was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to conspiring to convey list A and B prohibited articles into prison. She must also carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

PC Floyd Matthews, who investigated for Cambridgeshire Police, said: “Conveying prohibited items into a prison will not be tolerated. We work closely with colleagues at HMP Peterborough and we will continue to prevent further incidents of this nature taking place.”