A GRANDMOTHER was bullied into smuggling drugs and mobile phones into her boyfriend in prison by threats to attack her family.

Trina Stephens only succumbed to the pressure after a manhole cover was thrown through the front window of her home in Saltash, Exeter Crown Court heard.

She was visited by a man who she did not know who packaged up four different types of drugs and drove her to Channings Wood prison near Newton Abbot.

Officers became suspicious during her visit with partner Christopher Wakefield and seized the package which also contained two miniature mobile phones.

Wakefield, who was serving a 40 month term for aggravated robbery, headbutted a warder as he was removed from the interview room.

The smuggling attempt took place in November 2017 but there was a very long delay in charging Stephens.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court described the delay as ‘bordering on ludicrous’ and suspended the sentence because of it and Stephens’s family responsibilities.

Stephens, aged 54, of Beatrice Avenue, Saltash, admitted five counts of supplying or intending to supply class A, B, or C drugs, and two of conveying phones into prison.

She was jailed for 20 months, suspended for two years, ordered to do 20 days of rehabilitation activities and fined £150 by Judge David Evans.

He said: ‘Those who take drugs into prison can ordinarily expect immediate custody even if there is a background of threats but the delay in this case tips the balance in favour of suspension.’

Wakefield, aged 37, admitted causing actual bodily harm and possession of a prohibited item in prison and was jailed for ten months, suspended for a year at an earlier hearing.

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said Stephens visited Wakefield in November 2017 and a package was seized containing 1.33 grams of cocaine and more than 260 tablets of various sorts.

Stephens pleaded not guilty at first but eventually admitted the offences on the basis that there was pressure which fell just short of duress.

Mr Deni Matthews, defending, said other prisoner warned Wakefield Stephens home would be attacked and her family harmed unless she took part in the plan.

He said: ‘She had been in abusive relationships in the past and it was not in her nature to be able to resist the pressure she was put under. A manhole cover was put through her ground floor window.’

He said she is a mother with care for a 15-year-old daughter and at the heart of a large family unit in which she also looks after her grandchildren and mother.