A judge told Barbara Peters it was “with some sorrow and regret” that he was required to lock her up
Barbara Peters(Image: Merseyside Police)
A nan jailed for smuggling contraband into jail claimed one prisoner “told her she would be executed” if she reported him. Barbara Peters was paid thousands of pounds by “serious criminals” in order to sneak illicit items into HMP Altcourse on more than a dozen occasions.
Peters kept alcohol, tobacco and mobile phones hidden inside her bra to smuggle into the jail where she worked as a prison officer. The nan was also said to have been threatened and blackmailed by inmates before being ensnared as a result of a covert surveillance operation.
She appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, June 30 where a judge told her it was “with some sorrow and regret” that he was required to lock her up due to the seriousness and extent of her criminal conduct.
The sentencing came following an investigation by the North West Regional Crime Unit’s prison intelligence unit into corrupt activity at HMP Altcourse. None of the named prisoners were ultimately charged with any offences in relation to the smuggling matters, having made no comment when they were questioned by detectives.
Detective Inspector Brian Morley from the NWROCU’s Prison Intelligence Unit said: “This case highlights our commitment to rooting out corruption within the prison system. The actions of Barbara Peters undermined the safety and integrity of HMP Altcourse, and today’s sentencing sends a clear message that such behaviour will not be tolerated.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday that Peters began working at a custody officer at Altcourse prison in December 2022, being employed by G4S. However, police surveillance revealed that, on April 30 2023, the 57-year-old, formerly of Hicks Road in Seaforth, drove her Mercedes to a car park on Long Lane in Aintree in order to meet with a female associate of serving inmate Terence Clarke.
Stephen McNally, prosecuting, described how the other woman was observed approaching the defendant’s vehicle and apparently handing over a package in order for the illicit contents to be conveyed inside the prison. This led to Peters being arrested at her new workplace, the Countess of Chester Hospital, on June 6 2023.
A handwritten note recovered from inside her car at this stage made reference to an offer of £2,500 for Peters to enjoy a holiday in return for “three bars of polly”, or cannabis resin. The message also added that she would benefit from “max profit for min risk”.
Under interview, Peters went on to “give a candid account, making significant and detailed admissions”. This saw her tell detectives that she had been given a haircut by one prisoner, Joseph Makareth, in March 2023, for which she had “paid” him by giving him a vape.
This however led to her being reported to management, leaving her feeling “unfairly” treated as a result of perceived “bullying” and “cliques” among her colleagues. Peters stated that another inmate, Ben Brown, had then gone on to disclose that he had broken the charger for a mobile phone which he had illegally kept in his cell, leaving him “upset and distressed” as he was “desperate to speak to his children, as that was what kept him going”.
The staff member subsequently took a spare charging cable from home into the prison inside her bra and gave it to the prisoner. She subsequently smuggled cigarette papers into the jail, using the same method, for another inmate, Richard Joyce, to whom she had given her phone number.
Her contact details were then apparently shared onwards with Clarke and another prisoner, Lynton Skeete. Peters went on to admit that the former had asked her to smuggle tobacco into the jail and “pestered her for several weeks before she finally relented and agreed”, stating that she had initially threatened to report him internally but never did so as he “told her she would be executed”.
Clarke then apparently arranged the subsequent handover with his contact, being given the contraband and £1,000 in £20 notes by a woman who she believed was a relative of the inmate. The tobacco was then taken into HMP Altcourse the following day, the officer having “walked around the prison for several hours with it concealed in her bra” before she handed it to the prisoner.
Peters maintained that she had refused to convey further articles into the jail on Clarke’s behalf, but confessed to receiving cash payments from Joyce in order to smuggle alcohol on his behalf. This would apparently see her meet with the prisoner’s contact in the Crosby area, at which time she would be passed 750ml bottles of Evian water whose contents had been switched for vodka.
She was reportedly paid £500 on each occasion she did so and estimated to have received payments totalling £5,000 as a result. Peters said that she was instructed to leave the alcohol in the servery area after managing to bring the goods into the establishment unchallenged inside a holdall.
The defendant went on to refer to meeting a contact known as “Scraggy” at a car park on Rice Lane in Walton, where he handed her a parcel containing iPhones. She was given an envelope containing £2,000 in return, and was paid £1,000 by the same man on another occasion in order to smuggle tobacco into the prison.
Michael Lavery, defending, told the court: “This is a tragic case for Barbara Peters. She is a 57-year-old woman with an exemplary record behind her. The sentence that she faces today is one that she has been waiting for and has caused her great anxiety and distress.
“She was a pathology technician for 30 years, a job with some public service. She had good qualifications, difficult qualifications, and a difficult job. She took a career change, having seen advertisements for staff to be taken on at Altcourse.
“With her medical and caring background, she was attracted to the notion of assisting offenders. She and one other trainee were left in charge of a wing of 88 prisoners. She was not aware of the grooming techniques which were applied upon her. The first breach that she committed was for a charging cable for a person who was effectively grooming her, saying that he was losing contact with his children.
“Once that Rubicon is crossed, it is not hard for your honour to understand that the wing gets to know that they have somebody on the inside. Threats were directed to her. The threats were very serious. Clarke said that he would get her on the outside. His tentacles spread, because he was a serious criminal in the Liverpool underworld.”
Mr Lavery stated that his client’s car was also set on fire outside the prison during her first shift, in a matter which was unrelated to those who she was smuggling contraband on behalf of, but added: “A friend of hers in her cohort, a 45-year-old female with a family, took her own life in 2023 because of the pressures she faced, owing to being preyed upon. At the time, her partner was dying.
“Her husband passed away in 2023. He was dealing with renal cancer. He drank himself to death because of his impending passing. She was dealing with the suicide of her friend, the pressure of serious criminals and the death of her partner. They were ringing her at 10 at night, on occasions, demanding, rather than asking, for contraband to be brought into prison.
“I also prey in aid the delay in this case. Her conduct during the course of that delay has been exemplary. From the moment that she was arrested at the Countess of Chester Hospital, she has sought to work. She moved away from Liverpool to put this sorry chapter behind her. She has been offered permanent employment in Scotland.
“She has her daughter here today. She has grandchildren. They were subjected to threats by the prisoners that she was assisting. She has effectively moved on from what was going on then. She was entirely unsuitable for a role like this.”
Peters, who has no previous convictions, admitted one count of conspiracy to convey a prohibited list B article into a prison. Appearing in the dock wearing a pink t-shirt and glasses, she nodded as she was jailed for 10 months.
Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: “You accept that, on 15 occasions over about three months, you brought things into that prison for prisoners which were illicit items. You know, because you worked as a prison officer, the effect on the control of prisoners and discipline in prisons of people having things like tobacco and alcohol.
“That is currency, and that brings power. That allows them to dominate or control others on wings. You have obvious experience of how certain prisoners can come to control or dominate others on wings. People are running drug empires from prison because they can get hold of phones, because people like you smuggle those phones into prisons for them.
“I accept that you were perhaps ill fitted to serve. You were perhaps spotted as someone who was vulnerable and were manipulated. That was foolish. You were threatened and subjected to pressure, but you were also paid a total of £9,000. It is to your credit that I know that, because that came from your own mouth. It seems to me that there was an element of greed, as well as an element of being manipulated and used.
“There is mitigation in the fact that time has passed. This was now two years ago. You have got on with your life, stayed out of trouble, got yourself a job and moved yourself to Scotland.
“I take into account the pressure and threats that you were under, as someone who was perhaps naïve. It was a difficult environment in which to work, as you have found. I take into account your emotional vulnerability at the time, in terms of the suicide of your friend and the health, drinking and then death of your husband.
“The question, of course, is whether that sentence has to be immediate or not. I have thought carefully about it. On the one hand, I have sympathy for you as somebody who perhaps found yourself out of your depth with the people that you were dealing with.
“On the other hand, you knew full well that you should not have been smuggling into prison. It does not take a genius to realise that. You did it 15 times, and you were paid a total of £9,000 to do it.
“I do not expect that you will ever darken the doors of court again. But, ultimately, someone working as a prison officer who smuggles item into prison for prisoners must expect to go to prison.
“The message has to go out. However much you were being manipulated, you can report that. I think you now know that you should have reported it immediately at the outset, before the threats got too much.
“You do not have to have much training to know that you do not bring these items into prison. Because of that, and because you have done it 15 times, I take the view, with some sorrow and regret, that it has to be immediate custody. You will not serve very long. In your case, the punishment and message is that you are going to prison at all.”