Sheffield Crown Court: Inmate caught with mobile phone at a Doncaster prison gets further custodial sentence

Sheffield Crown Court hard on July 14 how Aamer Ali, 38, was serving at HMP Hatfield, on Thorne Rd, at Hatfield, Doncaster, when he was caught with a mobile phone and charger in his cell.

Prosecuting barrister Gareth Henderson-Moore said: “His room was searched on July 6, 2020, and during that search an iPhone and charger were both discovered.”

Ali, who has two previous convictions for 18 offences including dishonesty matters, pleaded guilty to possessing an unauthorised mobile phone in prison, possessing an unauthorised charger in prison and to beaching a Crime Prevention Order which bans him from ordinarily having more than one phone.

Defence counsel Balbir Singh said Ali had been given the phone and charger by someone to look after only the night before it was found in his cell.

In the meantime, the defendant has already served a term of custody at Hatfield prison and another closed prison following a transfer, according to Mr Singh, and he was released in February, 2021.

However, Mr Singh said Ali was subsequently charged with another offence and was recalled to prison on licence even though that new offence was discontinued.

Ali’s mental health has been deteriorating, according to Mr Singh, and the defendant has not been able to apply for parole release until the delayed phone-related offences have been concluded.

Judge Michael Slater told Ali: “Nothing of unlawful significance was found on this phone and I am prepared to accept it was not yours in the first place and you were merely holding it for someone else.”

He added: “I am going to impose a custodial term upon you because it’s unavoidable but I am going to impose the shortest possible term I can which hopefully will enable your release date from recall to be readily ascertained in the not too distant future.”

Judge Slater, who sentenced Ali, of Rhodes Street, Halifax, to four months of custody, said: “The prison authorities will consider if the time he has spent on remand will count towards his sentence.”