A TILEHURST man who dropped his ID card while throwing mobile phones and cigarettes into a prison has been jailed.

Khurram Azad, 38, of Lyndhurst Road, was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment at a Guildford Crown Court hearing on January 10 after pleading guilty to conveying prohibited articles into HMP Coldingley, near Bisley in Surrey.

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Investigators from the South East Regional Prisons Intelligence Team (SERPIT) and Surrey Police tracked Azad down after finding the ID card near the external fence where the items were thrown over.

The details on the ID card were then matched with Azad, and detectives identified that his car had been near the prison at the time of the incident.

Azad was also later forensically linked to the phones and cigarettes.

In addition to the jail term, he was also ordered to pay a £140 fine.

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DCI Ricky Dhanda, head of SERPIT, said: "Stopping illicit items making their way into the prison system is vitally important, and we have dedicated officers from across the south east working to tackle this.

"Digital devices act as enablers for organised criminality within prisons, with tobacco used as a currency to fund other criminal acts, so it’s vital we stop things at source and convict those who are facilitating things from the outside.

"I hope this conviction sends a strong message that offenders will be pursued and brought to justice."

Governor Dave Lewis, head of Security at HMP Coldingley, said: "I am really pleased to hear the result on Mr Azad.

"It is really good that our joint efforts to tackle a throw over in 2018, lead to his arrest and sentencing to 15 months in prison.

"The impact of throw overs into the prison by criminal gangs has a massive impact; illicit items can lead to bullying, debt, violence and fuel the illicit economy which helps fund organised crime."