A PRISON officer who was planning to use her position to smuggle items including mobile phones and illegal drugs into HMP Onley near Rugby has been jailed.
Tori Muddyman, 31, of Clarkson Close in Nuneaton, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to convey list A articles (drugs) and one count of conspiracy to convey list B articles (phones) into a prison at a court hearing in 2021.
At Worcester Crown Court in July this year, Muddyman was sentenced to a total of 12 months’ imprisonment.
In July 2019, Northamptonshire Police received a report alleging Muddyman was carrying illegal and banned items into the prison.
A subsequent search of her garage revealed a bag containing cannabis, steroids, a mobile phone, SIM cards and chargers, alcohol and tobacco.
Following Muddyman’s arrest, she went on to admit she had accepted £2,500 from a serving prisoner to bring banned items into work with her.
In interview, she claimed that although she took delivery of the bag from a woman at Rugby train station, she did not go through with smuggling anything into the prison.
However, a search of the prisoner’s cell uncovered fake drink cans containing drugs, and a mobile phone – a banned item within prisons – with bank records linking two of his known associates with payments made to her.
As a result of the investigation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit’s (EMSOU) Regional Prisons Intelligence Unit (RPIU), Muddyman, the prisoner, and two women who made bank payments to her were charged with a range of offences.
In 2022, the prisoner involved received a further sentence of three years and four months, and the second woman who transferred money to Muddyman received a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years.
In April 2025, the woman who met Muddyman at the train station and transferred money to her was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment after being convicted at trial.
Speaking after Muddyman’s sentencing, Det Insp Richard Cornell of EMSOU RPIU, said: “Prison officers have a duty and responsibility to maintain the safety and security of their workplace and those residing within it.
“This includes preventing the presence of illegal drugs and prohibited items such as mobile phones and alcohol.
“Tori Muddyman made a series of terrible decisions that undermined that responsibility and, had she carried these items into HMP Onley, would have contributed to ongoing criminality and risk of harm to both inmates and staff.
“This has been a complex and long-running investigation, and I am pleased to see matters conclude with Muddyman receiving a custodial sentence which reflects the seriousness of her actions.
“Our team are dedicated to rooting out criminal activity in prisons, including by those responsible for upholding law and order within their walls.”
