A MOTHER and son who made £90,000 from smuggling spice into Lewes Prison have been ordered to pay back just £40.

The drugs were hidden in Malteser packets.

Lewis Swaysland, 34, and his mother Terena Swaysland, 56, of Medmerry Hill, Brighton, appeared at Hove Crown Court where Judge David Rennie made orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act against them.

Both had been sentenced on February 25 this year after pleading guilty to money laundering to the value of £40,224.46.

This figure was based on money paid into Terena’s bank account from people known to be connected to prisoners.

Lewis also pleaded guilty to three counts of using a mobile phone from within the prison.

Terena was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Her son was sentenced to 12 months for money laundering and nine months for the mobile phone offences, all to run concurrently with each other and with the indeterminate sentence for robbery that he is already serving.

On the same day the judge ordered that Lewis had benefited from criminal conduct – a figure of £40,224.46 – but currently had no assets so a nominal £1 confiscation order was made.

Terena’s account showed other money from unknown sources.

The judge ordered her benefit was £50,228.04 with the only current asset being the balance of her bank account of £39, so a confiscation order was made in this amount.

Lewis’s uncle, Simon Nihill, 53, of Somerhill Avenue, Hove pleaded guilty to taking spice into Lewes Prison.

He was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, at Hove Crown Court on Monday having pleaded guilty.

Lewis’s sister Staycie Swaysland, 29, also of Medmerry Hill, was found not guilty after a trial in January of one offence of taking spice into the prison.

Sergeant Dan Thomson said: “Our investigation started when Simon Nihill and Staycie Swaysland were arrested at the prison on 17 June 2016. It was alleged that they had attempted to bring in 22.8 grams of spice concealed in two packets of Maltesers, worth about £1,000 inside prison, which were then intended to be handed to Lewis Swaysland amongst other confectionary legitimately bought from the prison canteen. It was the vigilance of prison officers who noticed the unusually ‘dishevelled’ packets amongst other items, which led to their arrest.

“The roles of Terena and Lewis Swaysland became clear when analysis of Terena’s bank records and mobile phones seized from Lewis in prison showed vast amounts of money going through her that could ultimately be traced to family of other prisoners, clearly payments for contraband.”