The father of a man sentenced for the murder of 28-year-old care worker Ashley Dale was caught by prison officers attempting to smuggle painkillers into jail for his son. Thomas McMahon, 64, moved a packet of crisps containing the contraband pills across the table to his son Joseph Peers during a prison visit at HMP Full Sutton on June 22 last year. However, security staff intercepted the transfer.
Incident at HMP Full Sutton
McMahon admitted bringing the prohibited painkillers into the jail, which houses some of the most dangerous prisoners in the country, including serial killers and terrorists. Hull Crown Court heard that McMahon and two women were visiting Peers when staff noticed McMahon moving his mouth before placing an item inside the crisp packet.
Julia Baggs, prosecuting, told the court that identical crisp packets were on a table in front of the group and were 'rotated' and moved around several times, arousing suspicion. CCTV footage showed McMahon's crisp packet being moved on the table. Staff discovered 14 white, oval-shaped tablets inside it. 'Custodial settings are notoriously rife with controlled and uncontrolled drugs,' said Miss Baggs. 'It's a high net-worth currency. All matters involving the transportation of prohibited items into prison are very serious, but this is not any sort of large-scale operation.'
Motivation and Previous Convictions
McMahon was arrested and claimed his son had been suffering back and knee pain, and he was worried about him. The tablets were intended to help with this pain. The prosecution did not accept this explanation but did not seek to challenge it. 'It was a prescribed medication for pain relief, but it is abused and is bought and sold on the black market,' said Miss Baggs.
McMahon had 23 previous offences, most recently in September 2023 for being over the drug limit for cannabis. He had returned from a trip to Amsterdam at the time. Billy Torbett, mitigating, said McMahon's previous conviction for drug-driving in 2023 came after a trip to Amsterdam due to the stress of his son's murder trial. When he returned, there was still cannabis in his system while driving. The father-of-four had no previous convictions for drugs possession or supply. He brought the drugs into Full Sutton Prison because his son was suffering pain from an injury.
'He knows he has made a significant error in judgement, to say the least,' said Mr Torbett. 'He is immensely remorseful for his actions. He understands that he has made a significant error here, an error which he regrets. It was the simple passing of pain management drugs to his son. He is under no illusions about the seriousness of it. He has largely remained out of trouble for 34 years apart from that driving conviction in 2023.'
Sentencing
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 equals currency, in monetary terms perhaps not, but nevertheless. You brought in a quantity of tablets, concealed from view. These tablets, you well knew, were prohibited items. The risk created is substantial. You were visiting your son, who is serving a sentence for murder. This was a serious lapse in your judgement.'
McMahon, of Dunchurch Road, Knotty Ash, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement days.
Background of the Murder
Peers was the getaway driver on the night of Ashley's murder on August 21, 2022. The care worker was shot in the abdomen with a Skorpion sub-machine gun at her home in Leinster Road as part of a plot to kill her boyfriend Lee Harrison. Peers, then aged 29, was said to have been the getaway driver for gunman James Witham, who discharged a hail of bullets in Ashley's dining room as she fled through the back door of her home.
On November 22, 2023, Peers was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 41 years for the murder of Ashley Dale, conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison, and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon with intent to endanger life. He will be 70 years old before he is eligible for release.
