A prison nurse has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for her role in what authorities describe as the largest and most complex smuggling network ever uncovered in the UK prison system.
The Infatuation That Led to Crime
Amy Hatfield, a 40-year-old mental health support worker at HMP Lindholme in Doncaster, became embroiled in the massive operation after developing an obsession with convicted inmate Joseph Whittingham, then 36. The relationship began in 2018 when Whittingham started flirting with Hatfield, who was a single mother at the time.
Speaking to the BBC's Gangster Presents: Sex, Drugs & Cell Block Parties podcast, Hatfield revealed she felt overwhelmed by the attention from Whittingham at a period when her confidence was 'at rock bottom'. She explained: "I've been used to being put down in past relationships, and he was giving me compliments. Just saying I was beautiful. He used to call me 'lips' because he said I had nice lips."
The Million-Pound Smuggling Operation
Over the following year until her arrest in 2019, Hatfield used her position to transport contraband valued at up to £1 million into the Category C prison. The illicit items included:
- MDMA, cannabis, steroids and synthetic cannabis 'spice'
- Mobile phones and USB sticks
- Weapons including knives
- Money and other prohibited items
Police investigations revealed that the synthetic cannabis was smuggled inside Ribena bottles. Hatfield would hand over the contraband during fake mental health appointments with inmates.
The couple communicated using a smuggled mobile phone, with Hatfield admitting she would run "up into my bedroom out of way of the kids so they didn't hear who I was speaking to". She told the podcast that Whittingham encouraged her criminal activities, saying he "liked the thrill of it" and would tell her to "just be a risk taker".
Legal Consequences and Tragic Outcome
At Sheffield Crown Court in 2023, Hatfield was handed a 10-year and two-month prison sentence for her part in the network. Judge Kirstie Watson told her that Whittingham had used her infatuation to "exploit" her.
The court heard that drug use at HMP Lindholme spiked significantly after Hatfield began working there in 2018 and fell again following her arrest the following year.
Whittingham, from Bradford, received an 11-year and four-month jail term for his leading role in the smuggling operation. Tragically, he died at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes on January 12, 2025, from causes that remain undisclosed. The Prisons & Probation Ombudsman has launched an investigation into his death.
Reflecting on her actions, Hatfield told the BBC: "At the start we just talked about going away together, weekends away, just spending time with families… but it didn't turn out that way. He said we could make some money before he gets out. Obviously, I shouldn't have crossed the boundary, but I did."
