'Exploited' teenager took drugs into Northamptonshire prison

A teenager tried to smuggle drugs to a prisoner he had never even met after being exploited, a court heard.

Ebenezer Sarpong, 18, admitted taking a substance into a prison after being caught with cannabis on a visit to HMP Onley in Northamptonshire on December 6 last year.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Northampton Crown Court heard Sarpong, of Belvedere in south-east London, had never stepped foot inside a prison until he went to the Category C jail near Barby.

But when he was inside to visit an inmate he "very obviously" took the cannabis out and put it down, the court heard.

Mitigating, Micaila Williams said Sarpong had been exploited by a group of men.

She said: "He was asked by a group to take this item into the prison.

"He had never met this prisoner before.

"It's clear from reading between the lines that they have exploited that and bought him into the group to do this."

Judge Michael Fowler bailed Sarpong for a pre-sentence report ahead of his next hearing on March 10.

But he warned him he could soon be back in prison for more than a visit.

He said: "Granting you bail does not mean that you are not going to receive a custodial sentence."