A prison guard accused of peddling sim cards to inmates in a scam worth thousands has been acquitted.

Jean-Luc Hirwa, of Canterbury, told jurors they were gifts to woo a woman called Blackberry who he met on dating site Plenty of Fish.

The 33-year-old told jurors at Canterbury Crown Court he forgot placing the cards into his lunch bag the day before work while cleaning his car, and "didn't know" they were prohibited in prison.

Jurors acquitted Mr Hirwa by majority of conveying a list B prohibited article into Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey after deliberating for four hours and 56 minutes following a trial this week.

He was also found not guilty of possessing criminal property, £2,850, which prosecutors argued were the proceeds of selling sim cards to inmates.

Mr Hirwa was found to be carrying the five new EE sim cards in a carrier bag tucked into his laptop holdall at 7.40am on a morning in October 2019.

“The defendant has been taking sim cards into HMP Elmley, he has been selling them,” prosecutor Brinda Soora argued.

But Mr Hirwa, of Albuhera Square, explained he forgot placing the cards into his lunch bag the day before work while cleaning his car, and "didn't know" they were prohibited in prison.

"Bringing it in was a mistake in itself, I didn't plan to bring it in, another issue is I didn't know it was a prohibited item," Hirwa said.

"I'm going to suggest you knew they were in your bag and you took them in with a view to trade with inmates for payments," Ms Soora said.

"It doesn't make sense for me to do that," Mr Hirwa replied, who also explained £2,850 cash found inside his home and car were savings for his son.