Jail for 17th member of gang who smuggled £1m of drugs & weapons into South Yorkshire prison

A 57-year-old man has become the 17th defendant to be sentenced over the largest ever drug and weapon prison smuggling conspiracy in the UK, carried out at a South Yorkshire prison.

William Francis has now been jailed for three years and 11 months, after his 16 conspirators were sentenced in October 2023. The 17 have collectively been sentenced to over 88 years in prison.

The court heard how 38-year-old mental health nursing assistant, Amy Hatfield, worked alongside the other defendants to smuggle over £1million worth of drugs, knives and mobile phones into the grounds of HMP Lindholme in Doncaster.

On 24 October 2019, Hatfield was arrested as she arrived for work. In her possession, officers found MDMA, bags of ketamine, spice paper, vials of testosterone, anabolic steroids, mobile phones, phone accessories, tobacco and other prescription drugs. She also had four Ribena bottles with her, which contained around two litres of liquid spice. This alone was estimated by prison experts to be worth over £1 million.

Francis was already a suspect in an ongoing investigation for conveying Class A and B drugs into Lindholme earlier in 2019.

The 17 defendants have been brought to justice for their roles in the conspiracy, following a four-year investigation by South Yorkshire Police.

The force's Prison Anti-Corru