A prison nurse who smuggled a mobile phone into jail as part of a drugs operation has been struck off the nursing register. Kymberley Finn, 33, was working at HMP Durham on an agency contract when she became involved in what police described as a “complex organised drug conspiracy”.
The scheme was uncovered in August 2022 when officers searching a cell at HMP Northumberland found a phone containing messages about drugs and also discovered contraband. Finn, from Boldon Colliery, was one of eight people sentenced in January 2025 over the wider plot to smuggle drugs into HMP Northumberland and HMP Durham. She was not charged with drug offences but admitted conspiracy to convey prohibited articles into prison, receiving a nine-month jail term suspended for 18 months with rehabilitation requirements.
Following her conviction, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) launched misconduct proceedings. In its January 2026 ruling, the panel said Finn had been “a significant participant in a conspiracy involving several other people to introduce a banned item to a prison” and had knowingly abused her position. The panel found that public confidence in the nursing profession required a finding of impairment, stating that “members of the public would be appalled if a registered nurse were not found impaired in circumstances where the nurse had abused their position of trust”.
The panel acknowledged Finn’s early guilty plea, previously good character, and that no patient had been harmed. However, it concluded that striking her off was necessary, as anything less would be “disproportionate to the gravity of the offence” and “insufficient to address public interest concerns”. Finn has now been removed from the NMC register, barring her from working as a registered nurse, midwife or nursing associate.
