Northampton ex-con posted £40,000 of drugs to prison disguised as shower gel

An ex-con has been sent back to jail after posting £40,000-worth of Spice to a prison disguised as shower gel.

Officers from Kettering's Central Response Team worked alongside a regional special ops outfit to track down Jay Coles to an address in Northampton after the four plastic bottles arrived at the prison post room last September.

Coles had been sent down for seven years for a brutal assault in Northampton in 2016.

The investigation was launched after the illicit package was discovered at HMP Wayland in Norfolk. CCTV footage and postal tracking numbers helped crack the case.

Coles, 26, formerly of Pleydell Gardens had previously pleaded guilty to sending a prohibited article into prison and was jailed for two years at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Jim Heggs, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit said: “When the four bottles arrived at the prison, they looked innocuous enough.

“They were in branded bottles and the yellow liquid inside looked like the pineapple and lemon zest soap, as advertised.

"But, on further inspection, the gel was found to be of a runnier consistency, smelling of chemicals rather than fruit.

“Following tests, the bottles were found to contain drugs worth up to £41,500 – mind-altering drugs that, had they made it into the prison population, could have seriously compromised the security of inmates and staff alike.”

Coles and Shannon Johanson were sentenced to 7½ years at Northampton Crown Court in 2016 following an attack in Abington the previous year.

Their victim was attacked as he walked out of an underpass to shops in Billing Brook Road shops. The pair then stamped on his hands, resulting in fractures.