Prisoner hid mobile phone covered in porridge in his mouth at Leeds jail

A drug dealer was caught hiding a broken mobile phone in his mouth at Armley jail
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Langton Mazise spat out the banned item after officers detained him in his cell at the prison in Leeds after officers suspected he was in possession of a mobile phone.

The 24-year-old was in prison on remand for class A drug dealing when he committed the offence.

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Leeds Crown Court heard officers went to his cell at 7.25am on March 1 last year.

HMP LeedsHMP Leeds
HMP Leeds

Catherine Duffy, prosecuting, said the defendant became angry and began shouting and jumping around the cell.

He was aggressive towards the officers and asked them why they had come into his cell.

The officers told Mazise that they suspected him to be in possession of a mobile phone.

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Mazise put one of his hands down his trousers and he was told to take it out.

The officers restrained him when he refused.

He was struggling to speak so the officers suspected he had hidden the phone in his mouth.

Mazise was taken to a segregation unit where he spat out the phone.

The prosecutor said the phone had bite marks on it and would not work as it had porridge in the charging port.

The SIM card inside the phone still worked.

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The governor of the prison provided a statement outlining the damaging impact mobile phones have in prisons.

Mazise was subsequently jailed for four years for possession with intent to supply cocaine.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a SIM card inside a prison.

The court heard Mazise also has previous convictions for violence, affray and possession of knives.

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Victoria Smith-Swain, mitigating, said her client obtained the phone to save money because using the prison's phones was expensive.

Mazise had eight months added to the sentence he is currently serving.

Sentencing, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: "SIM cards can be used anonymously to organise further crime."