TEN people have been convicted of conspiring to smuggle drugs into jail – including two prison officers.

Eight of them initially denied conspiring to convey prohibited items into Lewes Prison between June 18, 2014 and September 10, 2015.

A jury at Hove Crown Court found prison officers Ricky Bridger and Simon Taylor, a number of serving Lewes prisoners and some of their relatives and girlfriends guilty of playing a part in the smuggling ring.

Following a two-month long trial, Bridger and Taylor were convicted of bringing cocaine, synthetic cannabis known as spice, steroids and mobile phones to prisoners Darren Burdfield, Simon Penton, Simon Khalil and former inmate Daniel Sallis.

Bridger was caught with a Pringles tube containing a mobile phone and cocaine in his car boot but previously said that he had changed his mind about bringing it into the jail.

Taylor admitted during the trial that he had taken the then legal high, spice, into jail but claimed he was not part of a wider plot.

He was found in possession of cocaine when arrested in a pub in October 2014.

When police searched his home they found bundles of drugs and two mobile phones.

At around the same time, he had received a payment of £700 from Burdfield’s mother Sabrina, the court heard during the trial.

Bernard Taylor, a prison officer working in the jail in April 2015, was ordered to carry out a search of the prison gym which was used by staff and inmates at different times.

He told the court he discovered two Pringles pots filled with prohibited items hidden in the roof of the gym.

Inside the tubes Mr Taylor found two bottles of steroid liquid, four syringes, ten needles, an O2 SIM card and more than 100 grammes of spice.

The ten who were found guilty were linked by mobile phone and banking data showing that they had been in contact throughout the plot.

Payments had been made to parties in the case by the relatives and girlfriends of serving prisoners, which the court heard were payments for various drugs.

Those convicted of the conspiracy include Bridger, 54, of The Oaks, Heathfield, Taylor, 28, of West Way, Wick, Littlehampton, Burdfield, 33, a serving prisoner, Penton, 45, a serving prisoner, Sallis, 30, unemployed, of Bexhill Road, Woodingdean, Brighton, Sabrina Burdfield, 61, a care assistant, of Redwing Close, Wick, Littlehampton, Sarah Hall, 32, a care assistant, of Barnet Way, Durrington, Worthing and Katie Rudd, 26, unemployed, of Park Farm Lane, Maresfield.

Two other serving prisoners, Simon Khalil, 34, and Dorian Henry, 26, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing before the trial.

Sheryl Donegan, 30, unemployed, of Bexhill Rd, Woodingdean, Brighton, was found not guilty.

The jury failed to agree in the case of Henry’s sister Danielle Henry, 34, a finance clerk, of Alfred Road, London, who was discharged.

Those convicted are due to be sentenced tomorrow.