Bailed man jailed for handing phone to prisoner during court case

A man who passed on his mobile phone to a remand prisoner during a Crown Court hearing has been sentenced to an extra two months in custody.

Francis Lupton, who was himself on bail at the time, handed over the phone to an alleged co-conspirator while they were in the dock at Leeds Crown Court last August.

But a custody officer spotted the hand-over and the remand prisoner was told to give up the phone or be searched.

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Lupton, 20, of Bewerley Crescent, Woodside, Bradford, was one of 14 men sentenced last December for their part in an organised crime gang that stole and sold on high-value vehicles.

Lupton was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in custody for conspiracy to burgle and yesterday Recorder Paul Kirtley added an extra two months after he admitted trying to pass the prohibited article to a prisoner.

Prosecutor Louise Azmi said Lupton was seen by the officer in the case to take a mobile phone with him into the dock.

However, when he was later stopped outside the court door he only had the SIM card on him, the court heard.

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Lawyer Adam Walker told Bradford Crown Court that Lupton had taken the phone into the dock with him and after it went off his co-accused had pestered him to hand it over.

Mr Walker said the phone had been handed over in the heat of the moment and there was no evidence of any premeditation.

Recorder Kirtley accepted that Lupton’s action had been “a moment of sheer foolishness”, but he said it was a serious matter which had to be met with a period of imprisonment.