Murderer involved in prison drug smuggling
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CONVICTED murderer Craig Rouget has admitted his part in a conspiracy to supply a mind-bending drug to fellow inmates at Dartmoor Prison.
In the Royal Court in 2007, the now 32-year-old was found guilty of murdering 21-year-old James Dean in the High Street, St Peter Port, the year before.
He was sentenced to life in prison with the court recommending he should serve at least 13 years, a sentence he is now serving in HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset.
A parole hearing for Rouget was delayed while awaiting trial and his time in prison has been extended as a result of the conviction.
At Plymouth Crown Court, Rouget and his Cornish fiancee, Katie Hayes, admitted conspiring to smuggle letters soaked in a synthetic cannabinoid, Spice, into the prison, where an impregnated A4 sheet of paper was worth up to £3,000.
The offence was committed between January 2019 and March 2020. Both also admitted plotting with others to smuggle mobile phones into prison between the same dates.
A prison sentence of two years and 10 months was imposed on Rouget, while Hayes was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, plus 180 hours’ community service.
The prosecution said prison officers found a phone hidden in Rouget’s cell in September 2019. Pictures of Hayes were on the phone and inquiries took police to her door the following March.
Officers found several phones and messages talking about sourcing sheets of paper soaked in the class B substance, or dealing with payments of large sums of money.
Barrister Adrian Chaplin said that a sheet of paper soaked in the psychoactive substance could fetch between £250 and £400 behind bars, but divided into 630 one centimetre-square deals, the paper could raise more than £3,000.
Judge Robert Linford said smuggling prohibited items into prisons was an extremely serious matter. Spice was a particularly dangerous Class B drug.
‘You, Craig Rouget, accept, to your credit, that you to a large measure involved Katie Hayes in this,’ he said. ‘This is not her world and you know that.’
For Rouget, Ian Morrell said his client wanted to apologise to his co-defendant.
‘He told me that he never should have taken advantage of her. He is sorry to Hayes and indeed her family for bringing them into court.’
Mr Morrell said it was Rouget’s intention for the couple to be married upon his release and he wanted to make money so they would be secure. He said the prisoner was on anti-psychotic medication and anti-depressants.
Rouget’s parole board last August had been put on hold, with any hearing awaiting the outcome of these proceedings. It is now expected to be delayed further.
Single mum Hayes, from Hayle, Cornwall, who worked as carer, had no previous convictions when they met, the court heard.
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