A Sunderland mum who secretly smuggled drugs in her bra to give to her murderer son in prison has been jailed.
Lyndsey Ryan was caught trying to hand over drugs to her son Jack Ryan while visiting him at Full Sutton prison. He and brother Jess Ryan were locked up after they were convicted of murdering much-loved dad George "Geordie" Dagg.
Their mother admitted taking drugs into Full Sutton prison, near York, which houses some of the country's most dangerous criminals, on January 19, 2019. The ex-heroin user had done exactly the same thing in an earlier incident to help her other son, Hull Live reports.
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Hull Crown Court heard the tablets she was trying to give to her son were much prized in prison and could cause "misery" and disorder. Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, said that Ryan was in the visiting hall at Full Sutton prison to see her son, Jack Ryan, when she seemed to become on edge and was fidgeting.
An officer saw her on CCTV reach into the bra area of her jacket and pull out a small package before putting it on a tray on the table. Her son quickly grabbed the package and put it into his mouth.
Another member of the prison staff went over to intervene but Lyndsey Ryan did the same thing again and retrieved another package from her jacket before her son put it in his mouth. A third one was under the tray on the table.
The drugs were found to be five tablets of Subutex, a substitute drug that helps with heroin withdrawal. Their value in prison was said to be £80 a tablet, making a total of £400 for them.
Ryan was arrested and taken to Clough Road police station, Hull. On the way, she said: "I won't be doing that again." She told police that she had been visiting her son, Jack, once a month for three years and that he had arranged the visit after she received a telephone call from him the previous week and confirmed that she would be bringing the Subutex with her. It had been brought to her the previous day in a balloon.
Ryan had previously been given a suspended prison sentence for smuggling drugs into prison for her other son.
Jack Ryan, then 22, and his brother, Jess Ryan, then 25, were both convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in December 2014 of murdering Sunderland man George Dagg, 53, in a "callous and cowardly" attack after he turned his back on them after an argument.
He suffered a catastrophic loss of blood and died in hospital a few days later. His family later said: "They have ripped our whole family apart and taken away someone we love who we can never get back."
Jack Ryan was ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years and Jess Ryan 25 years. Jess Ryan had stabbed the victim in the back of the leg in Sunderland, with the help of his brother. The police branded it a "senseless attack by the brothers".
Stephen Littlewood, mitigating, said that Lyndsey Ryan was put under pressure by her son to smuggle the drugs into prison. "She was being told by her own son that if she did not do this, he was at serious risk of facing harm," said Mr Littlewood. "She doesn't believe that her son was ever at serious risk of physical harm. At the time, she felt very vulnerable and was easily manipulated.
"She now feels much stronger. She feels in a bad place but, in her words, a million times better than where she was. She knew what the consequences are."
Ryan had come off heroin after a long addiction to it but still used cannabis, although that was reducing. "She is actively seeking help for it," said Mr Littlewood.
"She is a very vulnerable person who was targeted by her sons making her feel that they would be harmed. Her sons are not getting out of prison any time soon."
Judge Sophie McKone told Ryan: 'You went to visit your son, who was serving a prison sentence for a very serious offence, in Full Sutton. You took with you five Subutex tablets and, when you were visiting him, you gave them to him. You knew that it was wrong.
"You particularly knew that it was wrong because, two years before, you were given a suspended sentence for doing the same thing to another son, who was serving a sentence for the same offence. You must have been aware how serious your behaviour was but you did it anyway.
"In prison, they are a highly valuable commodity. They are worth £80 each. They are a very valuable item for a prisoner to have. Not only can they take drugs, they can trade drugs. It leads to the breakdown of order in prison.
"It brings misery to the prison staff who have to deal with this and misery to other inmates, who are bullied and put upon for these drugs. You may have felt vulnerable to requests from your son but you did something that you knew was wrong because you knew from your previous offence how wrong it was."
Ryan, of Torrens Road, Thorney Close, Sunderland, was jailed for six months. "This offending is just too serious for it to be suspended and it will have to be immediate," said Judge McKone.
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