A GRANDMOTHER who was caught smuggling an iPhone wrapped inside a package of "legal highs" into HMP Hewell has been given a suspended jail sentence.

A specially trained sniffer dog alerted officers at the Tardebigge prison to the suspicious package carried by 50-year-old Tina Richards, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Ian Ball, prosecuting, said Richards was visiting her partner, serving a sentence for armed robbery, on January 14 this year.

The package contained a herbal drug wrapped around an iPhone with headphones and a charger.

She pleaded guilty to taking a banned item into a prison.

Amy Jacobs, defending, said Richards, of Cypress Road, Yew Tree in Walsall, had been threatened and her partner had been assaulted in prison.

She had been told to take in the package and drop it in a bin in a public area.

She did not report the threats to police because she feared prison officers were involved, Miss Jacobs said.

Judge Michael Cullum said the "legal high" drug and other items were banned because of the problems they create when smuggled in.

"It causes disorder and acts as a currency enabling bullying and crime in the prison system," he said.

He told Richards she was at the time in her life when she should be looking to the future with her daughter and granddaughter.

He gave her a 28 week sentence suspended for 12 months with supervision and a requirement to attend a women's project.