Pharmacy worker who snuck drugs into prison jailed

A 61-year-old pharmacy technician who sneaked drugs and SIM cards into a prison has been jailed.

Tanya Petrie from Worle in north Somerset took drugs wrapped in cling-film - including cocaine - into HMP Bristol where she worked after collecting a package from a wheelie bin on 17 October 2023.

Petrie was jailed for more than six years on 16 February after a jury at Bristol Crown Court found her guilty of conspiring to bring or convey a list A prohibited article in a prison.

Det Insp Tim Seaman, from Avon and Somerset Police's serious and organised crime team, said the officers "uncovered and dismantled a criminal conspiracy operating both inside and outside the prison walls".

Petrie was spotted by officers in 2023 collecting an item from a wheelie bin in the front garden of a Bristol property in Somerdale Avenue.

She then went to work where she was searched and arrested on suspicion of being part of a conspiracy to take prohibited items into a prison.

The package contained cocaine, class B drugs and tobacco.

Casey Collins, 23 and from Knowle West, was among the people who lived in the property in Somerdale Avenue.

Officers found two phone numbers which were being used within the prison - and a phone was linked to prisoner Kyle Joyner, 32, who was using it to contact Collins.

Petrie was sentenced to six years and three months in prison. She previously pleaded guilty to conveying a list B prohibited article into a prison.

Joyner and Collins pleaded guilty to conveying listed A prohibited items into the prison in January 2025 and were jailed for three years and two years and four months respectively.

Joyner was jailed for three years and Collins was jailed for two years and four months.

Seaman said: "Such actions enable organised crime, fuel violence, and undermine the hard work of honest staff who dedicate themselves to running secure and rehabilitative environments.

"This investigation sends a clear message: our investigations into organised crime will identify those who facilitate organised criminality and we will work tirelessly with our partners, and use every tactic available to bring those involved in corruption to justice – regardless of their role or position."

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