Thomas McMahon, 64, was caught smuggling painkillers into Full Sutton Prison for his son Joseph Peers, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ashley Dale. McMahon hid the tablets inside a crisp packet and slid it across a table during a visit, but vigilant prison staff spotted the exchange.
How the smuggling was discovered
Prosecutor Julia Baggs told Hull Crown Court that McMahon was visiting Peers with two women when staff noticed him moving his mouth and placing an item into a crisp packet. Identical crisp packets were on the table and were rotated and shuffled, raising suspicions. CCTV footage showed McMahon's packet being moved across the table, and staff found 14 white, oval-shaped tablets inside.
“Custodial settings are notoriously rife with controlled and uncontrolled drugs. It's a high net-worth currency,” said Baggs. “All matters involving the transportation of prohibited items into prison are very serious, but this is not any sort of large-scale operation.”
McMahon's explanation
McMahon claimed his son had been suffering back and knee pain and that he was worried about him. The tablets were prescribed for McMahon himself to treat chronic pain but were unused. The prosecution did not accept this explanation but did not challenge it. “It was a prescribed medication for pain relief, but it is abused and bought and sold on the black market,” Baggs added.
McMahon had 23 previous convictions, most recently in September 2023 for drug-driving after returning from Amsterdam with cannabis in his system. His lawyer, Billy Torbett, said the trip was due to stress from his son's murder trial. McMahon has no prior convictions for drug possession or supply.
Court's judgment
Recorder Taryn Turner told McMahon: “This is serious offending. This was in a custodial environment where there has to be the maintenance of order. Drugs equal currency. You brought in a quantity of tablets, concealed from view. These tablets, you well knew, were prohibited items. The risk created is substantial.”
Turner noted that drugs in prisons fuel violence, intimidation, and debt. McMahon, of Dunchurch Road, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence, 120 hours of unpaid work, and 15 days of rehabilitation. He is still banned from visiting his son, causing emotional problems.
Background of the murder
Ashley Dale, 28, an environmental health worker, was shot dead in her Liverpool home in August 2022. Gunman James Witham fired 10 bullets, one hitting her in the abdomen. Joseph Peers, described as a “foot soldier,” waited outside in a car as the getaway driver. In November 2023, four men were convicted of murder after a seven-week trial. Peers was jailed for life with a minimum of 41 years. He and others were also convicted of conspiracy to murder Ashley's boyfriend and possession of a prohibited weapon.
