A mother has been jailed after she tried to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into a prison for her boyfriend.

Despite hearing Katie Hawley has three young children and no previous convictions, a judge said a custodial sentence was demanded, adding: “Nothing else will do.”

But Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said he had kept the sentence to four months “to reflect the impact on your children”.

Hawley, of King George Road, Chatham, was seen on CCTV cameras passing a package to her partner at Elmley Prison in Eastchurch on September 14 last year.

She moved away to buy a drink and when the inmate was searched 40g of cannabis, two mobile phones and a charger were found.

“Secreted in your underwear another package containing cannabis and other items was found,” the judge told 29-year-old Hawley at Maidstone Crown Court.

“These were calculated offences committed on your part, no doubt out of a misguided sense of loyalty to your partner.”

“It has been said by the Court of Appeal on numerous occasions that drugs are inimical to the rule of law in prison where they are often used as currency to extort or bully.

“Such is the evil they perpetuate, it is even worse than the evil which such drugs cause in open society. Mobile phones are similarly of enormous value within prison.

“The Court of Appeal has made it clear that such offenders must generally expect a deterrent sentence of immediate imprisonment.”

The judge said the fact an offender had felt a degree of pressure carried little weight.

The greatest mitigation lay in Hawley’s guilty pleas to two charges of conveying a prohibited article into prison.

“The pre-sentence report indicates you regret your actions and consequences, not just for yourself but your three young children,” he told her.

“Any sentence of imprisonment will interfere with their lives. You have discussed with your parents about looking after your children. You have had good the good sense to make proper arrangements.”