July 14, 2017 3.17 pm This story is over 91 months old

Abusive woman who bit officer after being caught smuggling drugs into prison jailed

A woman who bit a prison officer after being caught trying to smuggle drugs into Lincoln Prison has been jailed for six months. Nicola Dowell attracted the attention of staff at the Greetwell Road prison after she was seen acting suspiciously in the visiting area where she had gone to see her partner. Phil Howes, prosecuting,…
Nicola Dowell has been jailed for six months

A woman who bit a prison officer after being caught trying to smuggle drugs into Lincoln Prison has been jailed for six months.

Nicola Dowell attracted the attention of staff at the Greetwell Road prison after she was seen acting suspiciously in the visiting area where she had gone to see her partner.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that initially a prison officer who checked out the situation could find nothing untoward.

Mr Howes said: “Ten minutes later there was further concern at her conduct and she was told she would be searched.

“She became aggressive and distressed. She was trying to put her hands inside her waistband.

“She was taken to a side room. She was aggressive and abusive. She tried to bite one of the officers and during the incident another officer was holding the defendant’s left arm.

“The officer was bitten on the forearm by the defendant.

“Eventually the defendant was overpowered and handcuffed. She then became apologetic and admitted she had something on her. She produced a small parcel from her inner thigh.”

The parcel was found to contain 43.74 grammes of synthetic cannabis.

The court was told that she had 72 previous convictions for 212 offences spread over 24 years.

Nicola Dowell, 41, of Castlegate, Grantham, admitted conveying a banned item into prison as a result of the incident on January 10 this year.

She also admitted a charge of assault by beating.

Mark Watson, in mitigation, said Dowell had been pressured into taking the drugs into prison to her partner and had received threats and calls to her mobile phone.

“She had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose for doing this.

“Had she got away with it the pressure would probably have continued because that’s the way it works.”

He said that Dowell had a long-standing drugs problem herself and her father has prostate cancer which has since spread.

Recorder Mrs Anupuma Thompson, passing sentence, told Dowell: “Bringing drugs into prison is a very serious matter. It is inevitable that an immediate custodial sentence has to be passed.”