'I accept there was pressure but you did this of your own free will - your sentence must act as a deterrent'

A dad who flung drugs and phones over the wall of Strangeways prison using a slingshot has been jailed. Joshua Loose, 30, launched a package containing cannabis and mobiles into the grounds of jail - the second time he'd done so in a matter of months.

Loose, a drug addict, said he said he was trying to pay off substance debts. Pleas for him to be handed a suspended sentence so he could look after his young son were rejected by a judge, who said the sentence must act as a deterrent to others.

A CCTV operator at the high-security prison, officially known as HMP Manchester, spotted a man in a blue hoodie with the hood up, talking on his mobile phone close to the wall of the jail on Sherborne Street, Manchester Crown Court heard.

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"After looking at the camera and seemingly realising he was being filmed, the man ran off," Samuel Ponnia, prosecuting, said. "He headed towards a side-street where he got into a car whose reg could not be traced."

A dog patrol was dispatched to check the area on the other side of the wall where the man had been and found a yellow package on the grass verge. When they rolled the CCTV back further, they saw 'the defendant had sent it over using a slingshot', Mr Ponnia said.

The package contained 4.62 grams of cannabis, said to be worth £250 in prison; 6.84g of tobacco; and four mobile phones with chargers said to be worth more than £2,000 inside.

Loose was linked to the crime via fingerprints. The court was told in January 2021 he sent another package into a prison, containing cannabis, cocaine and mobile phones for which he was handed a 24-week sentence. .

Loose, of Woodstock Court,