Two brothers involved with a convicted killer in smuggling drugs and mobile telephones into Swaleside prison have been jailed for a total of more than eight years.

Twins Christopher and Richard Hill were said to have assisted in getting up to seven illicit consignments into the Sheppey prison.

Christopher Hill, 22, was working in the prison at the time as an operational support grade employee and was "recruited" by an inmate.

Maidstone Crown Court heard his brother Richard, who had previously worked in the same role at the prison, became involved as he was anxious to help his twin. Christopher Hill was "paid" a total of £1,150, which he shared with his twin, but neither was said to be motivated by money.

The packages would be collected by the Hills from a third party outside the prison and then handed over to another person in a car park adjacent to the prison. The court was told that this intermediary was believed to be an inmate with access to the car park and who would then smuggle in the contraband.

The next recipient was lifer Tyrone Woolley. The 27-year-old was jailed in 2004 for murder, with a minimum term of 18 years, following a fatal stabbing.

Woolley would secret the consignments about his body and then pass them on to those responsible for their distribution.

A total of seven different drugs were found in two packages intercepted by prison officers in December last year and January. These included crack cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and the horse tranquilliser, ketamine.

However, neither brother had any involvement with these consignments and were only responsible for smuggling class C drugs.

The court heard the estimated value of the drugs inside prison was twice the street value.

Jailing Christopher Hill for five years and Richard Hill for three-and-a-half years, Judge Jeremy Carey said the public found it both "astonishing and demoralising" that there was easy access to drugs inside, and rightly expected those involved in their supply to be severely punished.

"It is not without significance that you did not take any steps to rid yourself of the money that was left for you," he added. "You were corrupted."

Christopher Hill, of Anne Boleyn Close, Eastchurch, and Richard Hill, of Unity Street, Sheerness, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs at Swaleside between April 1 last year and June 2 this year.

They also admitted conspiracy to bring prohibited articles into prison between the same dates.

Woolley also pleaded guilty to that offence, as well as conspiracy to supply class A, B and C drugs. He was sentenced to four years consecutive to his life term.

Having been urged to impose a concurrent sentence that would not affect his earliest possible release date of February 2021, Judge Carey said he did not accept arguments put forward on his behalf that a consecutive sentence was "a double punishment."

The court heard that since his involvement in the conspiracy he had lost all privileges and was now on 22-hour lock-up in Belmarsh.