A prison counsellor has been jailed for smuggling drugs inside a jail after he was threatened by inmates to become a courier when he scuppered their deals.

Jared Ismail was "coerced and pressured" into taking illegal substances into HMP Rochester, after he told guards he'd seen a package thrown over a wall during one of his sessions.

The 29-year-old, from Enfield, north London, had worked as a railway engineer and was visiting the Category C prison to provide training to inmates ahead of their release.

After reporting the package, Ismail received sinister telephone calls and messages, including a note left on his desk which referred to his family, while another said he needed "protection".

He eventually succumbed to the threats and, during a lunch break outside the prison walls, was given cocaine, cannabis, and three mobile phones.

It was as he returned to work that he was caught with the 36 grams of skunk cannabis hidden in a drinks container, before a further search uncovered almost 7 grams of cocaine and the phones.

Ismail admitted three offences of conveying prohibited articles into prison - and was jailed for 20 months.

Judge Philip Statman described the case at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday as "wholly exceptional" and one of the most "upsetting and tragic" he had ever dealt with.