The mother of a prisoner who got a corrupt jailor to smuggle drugs into her son’s jail has been ordered to pay back just £1.
Joy Wickham’s son Jediah Clarke was an inmate at Wayland Prison but persuaded Sophie Emms, a prison officer, to bring in spice and cannabis to sell to fellow prisoners.
Clarke – who was described as the “commander in chief” of the operation – got Emms involved after the pair started a relationship.
Wickham, now 62, had been part of the smuggling ring, and was tasked with passing the drugs to Emms to get them into the prison.
She was jailed for four years in December last year after being found guilty of bringing or conveying a prohibited article, namely spice and cannabis, into prison.
Wickham, from London, appeared back at Norwich Crown Court on Thursday for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing.
The legislation gives the Crown Prosecution Service the power to confiscate assets.
Wickham’s benefit figure – the sum she made from her offending – was deemed to be £40,135.64.
However, her available assets are just £1, which she has been ordered to pay back.
Earlier this month Wickham’s son, Clarke – who was jailed for six years and two months for bringing a prohibited article into prison, was ordered to pay back £45,819.90.
The hearing brings to an end the case which also saw Emms, of Pennycress Drive, Wymondham, sentenced to 33 months after she admitted conspiracy to convey prohibited articles into prison.
Jailing Emms, Judge Katharine Moore said it had been a “gross breach of trust” by the former prison officer who had “betrayed the trust and duty of care”.
The court heard Emms was paid by Clarke, via a third party, to bring drugs into prison with payments of £2,500, £500, £1,000 and a further £2,000 being made to her on separate occasions.
The value of spice taken into prison – having been put onto A5 paper which was subsequently cut up into smaller deals – was said to be £1,050.
The cannabis resin taken into prison – and kept in a cell – was said to have totalled £6,250, meaning that total amount of drugs, in prison value, was in excess of £7,000.
