A prison teacher was part of a gang jailed for smuggling drugs and mobile phones smeared in Marmite into Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Teacher Niyi Onilude, 54, of Stoke Newington Church Street, was jailed for two and a half years yesterday (November 26) at Southwark Crown Court after admitting accepting packages sent via Royal Mail addressed to him containing cannabis resin, 57 per cent purity heroin, herbal cannabis, cannabis grinders, two Samsung mobile phones with chargers and batters and a pack of spice - a legal high.

The court heard how prison officers intercepted a package on February 18 after becoming suspicious of the smell emanating from the package.

Onilude admitted later that day to accepting packages containing drugs on behalf of prison inmate Shaun Barnabie, 32, who has now been transferred to Wandsworth Prison.

Parice Lewis, 23, of Harwoods Road, Watford, wrapped and prepared the packages, using Marmite to conceal the smell, then sent them via Special Delivery to the prison in White City where Onilude signed for them and passed them to Barnabie during class.

Lewis used two of her bank accounts to accept payment for the drugs and phones sold within the prison and when one of the packages was intercepted Barnabie tried to make contact with Lewis via a prison telephone instructing her to dispose of her mobile phone.

Lewis’s mobile phone was then found to have incriminating Whatsapp messages of her bragging about the criminal enterprise she was running with Barnabie.

Prisoner Shaun Barnabie, 32, and Parice Lewis, 23, were both jailed yesterday

Pete Nicholls, local corruption prevention manager at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, said: “This case demonstrates the hard work and dedication of prison staff working in collaboration with our partner agencies with the common goal of convicting staff, prisoners and their criminal associates involved in the conveying of drugs and mobile phones into our prisons. I would particularly like to thank the London Prisons Anti Corruption Team (LPACT) for their support in bringing this case to court and achieving these convictions.”

Onilude was jailed for conspiracy to convey a prohibited article into a prison while Barnabie was handed five and a half years for conspiracy to convey class A and B drugs into a prison, five and a half years for money laundering, 18 months for conspiracy to convey a mobile phone into a prison and eight months for perverting the course of justice. He will only serve the first sentence.

Lewis was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to convey a prohibited article into a prison. All pleaded guilty.