TWO women and a former inmate will be sentenced next month over a plan to smuggle drugs into a young offenders’ institution (YOI).

Chanise Lee Oliver was searched on arrival at Deerbolt YOI, at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, where she was about to visit boyfriend James McGonnell, who was serving a sentence, at the time, on November 18, 2017.

Durham Crown Court heard that asked if she had anything with her she should not have, Oliver confessed that she did, and produced a package from her bra which was found to contain almost 20-grams of cannabis in three smaller wrappers.

Her phone was examined and contained messages to another inmate’s girlfriend stating she was going to be, “taking something with her,” for her boyfriend.

Oliver, 22, of Keats Walk, South Shields, subsequently admitted conspiracy to supply prohibited drugs, plus taking a mobile phone and drugs into a prison.

McGonnell, 21, of Holbein Road, South Shields, admitted all three charges.

Tracy Carney, 49, of Wellbeck Road, Newcastle also admitted the conspiracy charge, which was denied by Chloe Burrows, 23, of Heathcote Green, Newcastle, who drove the other two women to Deerbolt on the visit.

Miss Burrows was cleared by a jury after a two-day trial this week, but the other three defendants will return for sentence on October 25.