A HOMELESS man agreed to smuggle a package containing illicit items into a prison on a visit, a court heard.

Wayne Macleod was paid to take the contraband, 32 anabolic steroids and a miniature mobile phone, in a secreted small package with him, when he went into Durham Prison to see an inmate.

But, as the visit ended, the inmate was approached by prison officers and asked if he had anything on him which he should not have.

The prisoner took a small container from a sock and handed it to an officer.

Durham Crown Court was told it contained the phone and two packets of 16 tablets.

Anthony Pettengell, prosecuting said Macleod was detained before he was able to leave the visits’ area and when he was later interviewed by police admitted having brought the package into the prison.

He said a friend of the inmate asked him to take the items into the prison in return for payment.

Macleod said he believed the package must contain some drugs, but he did not know what type of substance they were.

The 36-year-old defendant, of Toward Road, Sunderland, admitted conveying two prohibited items into a prison.

His 12 previous convictions were said to be unrelated, mostly for low-level shop theft.

Richard Herrmann, prosecuting, said Macleod had only previously spent time behind bars on remand in custody and has never served a prison sentence himself.

He accepted the incentive was being paid as he was homeless at the time, but he now has accommodation provided by a charity.

Imposing a ten-month prison sentence, Judge James Adkin said drugs in prisons can cause great levels of disorder, while providing inmates with phones allows then to continue their criminal activities from behind bars.