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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Joe Thomas

Inmate who stabbed man with kitchen knife found hiding 19 phones in cell

A prisoner was found with a stash of 19 mobile phones hidden inside a radio he kept in his jail cell.

Jay Maugham also had a charger for each of the devices and a single SIM card while he was being held at Altcourse.

The banned items were discovered while the 41-year-old was serving time for a knife attack that nearly killed his partner's ex-husband.

Read More: Jurors find murderer guilty in just two hours and 23 minutes

Prison officers searched Maugham's cell in April of this year, discovering a screw bit.

That sparked further suspicion and led to guards unscrewing items recovered inside his cell - including the battery compartment of his radio.

Simon Duncan, prosecuting, said: "Prison officers searched his cell, a cell solely occupied by him, and they found a radio which contained these items.

"He claimed that he found the radio near some bins."

Inside were 18 Zanco phones - tiny devices often smuggled into prisons because they are so easy to hide - and an iPhone.

Charging cables for each of the mobiles were also found along with a Vodafone SIM card.

Mr Duncan said Maugham refused to participate in an interview.

Ben Berkson, defending, said his client was a "custodian" of the contraband and would not have been responsible for the distribution of the phones.

He said Maugham regretted his actions and "felt there would be consequences" if he refused to stash them.

Mr Berkson said: "Essentially, it was people he did not want to say no to."

General view of the family wing at G4S managed HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, Merseyside, UK. Picture credit: Anthony Devlin/G4S (Jason Alden Photography/G4S)

Liverpool Crown Court heard the dad-of-five, and grandad of three, was a mentor for a joinery course at HMP Berwyn, where he is now locked up.

Maugham was in jail after being sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in April 2018 after admitting wounding with intent.

That prosecution centred on the stabbing of the ex-husband of his partner in Crewe.

In that case a fight between the two men broke out when the ex-husband turned up at the couple's home, with Maugham stabbing his victim in the chest with a kitchen knife.

Chester Crown Court heard his victim would have bled to death if he had not been treated.

Maugham, then of Oldham, then fled the scene.

In his police interview, Maugham told officers that he had held the knife up to try and warn the other man away, but that he backed away before jumping on him and had “ landed on the knife ”.

Judge David Swinnerton said Maugham's sentence for admitting the possession of phones, chargers and a SIM in Altcourse must be consecutive to the tariff he is currently serving.

He said the phones could "both undermine prison discipline and cause greater risk to the outside world" because they could lead to witness intimidation and the commission of further offences.

Judge Swinnerton handed Maugham a further 14 months in jail.

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