Under cover of darkness, Reece Summers and a mate tried to fly a sock full of drugs into HMP Liverpool. But their midnight mission hit a snag when the drone got stuck on the roof. The package contained cocaine and cannabis worth nearly £5,000.
When police swooped on Walton park, they caught Summers crouching with a torch. He threw down an iPhone, a drone controller, and a bag of cannabis. The 24-year-old from Kirkby, now living in Manchester, was bang to rights.
At Liverpool Crown Court, his barrister begged the judge not to 'whack-a-mole him' or 'throw him on the bone heap with the rest of them.' No dice. Summers copped three counts of conveying prohibited articles into prison and got two years behind bars.
Judge Dennis Watson KC wasn't buying it: 'This was a sophisticated plan, and not small quantities either. An ounce of coke is worth over £1,000 on the street, even more in jail.' The judge ruled immediate custody was the only fit sentence for such serious contraband smuggling.