TWO former prison officers are behind bars for their roles in a drug smuggling conspiracy at HMP Lewes.

Ricky Bridger and Simon Taylor were among nine people jailed at Hove Crown Court yesterday for conspiring to convey prohibited articles in prison.

Bridger, 54, of The Oaks, Heathfield, was given the maximum ten-year sentence, being deemed the more prominent offender of the two.

Judge Paul Tain, who sentenced the officers, told Bridger he is “a very greedy person with no moral compass whatsoever.”

Taylor, 29, of West Way, Wick, Littlehampton, was given eight years behind bars.

The operation went on from June 2014 until September 2015 and cocaine, spice – a legal high – money, steroids and mobile phones were smuggled into Lewes Prison.

Ex-officers Bridger and Taylor delivered mobile phones and drugs to inmates inside.

The values of the items in prison were four times that of on the street, the court heard.

They hid the goods in Pringles tubes and protein powder pots to get them to prisoners.

Judge Tain said basic phones were sold for £200 while internet accessible devices made around £500.

In one deal, the guards earned £1,000 each.

If neither commit an offence while in prison, their sentences will be halved.

Inmates Simon Khalil, 34, and Dorian Henry, 26, known as the two main culprits of the prisoners involved, pleaded guilty and were each jailed for three years.

Henry’s sister Danielle, a 34-year-old financial clerk, was discharged. The CPS is planning to seek a re-trial in her case.

Khalil’s former girlfriend Katie Rudd was sentenced for disguising and moving money round for the prisoners.

Rudd, 26, unemployed, of Park Farm Lane, Maresfield, was handed a two-year sentence suspended for two years and given a six-month curfew.

Fellow prisoners Daniel Sallis, 30, now unemployed and of Bexhill Road, Woodingdean, and Darren Burdfield, 33, were given five years for their part in the conspiracy.

Sallis used a bank account in his name to receive and transfer money for buying and selling prohibited items.

Other defendants used the accounts of family members or partners instead.

The convict’s mother Sabrina Burdfield, 62, a care assistant from Redwing Close, Wick, Littlehampton, was given a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months and a four-month curfew.

Hall, 32, a care assistant from Barnet Way in Worthing, was also given a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months and a four-month curfew. Simon Penton, 45, was handed three years behind bars.