A VIDEO from inside the cell of a prisoner who was one of the main players in the UK's biggest prison drugs plot shows the moment he is caught out lying about having a phone.

Joseph Whittingham, 35, of HMP Leeds, originally from Bradford, had a "leading role" in the operation where more than £1 million worth of drugs, knives and mobile phones were smuggled into the grounds of HMP Lindholme, near Doncaster.

He recruited his wife Lucy and father Paul to receive payments for the contraband, as well as starting a relationship with a mental health nurse at the jail, Amy Hatfield, who was a central figure in flooding the jail with contraband.

Footage released by South Yorkshire Police today shows Whittingham's prison cell being searched on October 19, 2019.

Whittingham can be heard to say: "What have you come for today then, let me guess, what for?"

A voice behind the camera responds: "What do you think for?"

Whittingham quickly replies: "What for, I don't know, tell me what you come in for every day?"

The voice says: "Suspicions you've got a phone...

Whittingham says: "...a what?"

The voice says: "A phone again."

Whittingham replies: "Every day mush, I have not got a phone in the f***ing pad, leave me!"

Just four minutes later an officer finds an Apple iPhone in Whittingham's cell.

The officer says that Whittingham was "uncompliant with staff" as he pulls off sticky tape from the back of the phone, which was sellotaped to the back of a heating pipe in the cell.

Whittingham pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, conspiracy to convey drugs into prison, conspiracy to convey a knife into prison and conspiracy to convey phones into prison.

He was sentenced to a total of eleven years and four months in prison today.

Hatfield, 38, of HMP New Hall, Wakefield - Whittingham's girlfriend - was jailed for more than 10 years, while another 14 defendants were also jailed.

Among those sentenced were five other Bradford defendants.

  • Aneeze Williamson, 30, originally from the Bradford district, whose address was given as HMP Leeds, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and conspiracy to convey phones into prison. He was sentenced to five years and five months in prison.
  • Kora Haley, 30, of Holme Lane, off Tong Street, Bradford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, conspiracy to convey phones into prison and money laundering. She was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. Williamson's girlfriend. 

  • Natalie Williamson, 35, of West Royd Drive, Shipley, pleaded guilty to money laundering and being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Sister of Aneeze.

  • Paul Whittingham, 59, of Halifax Road, Bradford, was found guilty of money laundering at trial. However, Whittingham was found not guilty of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, conspiracy to convey drugs into prison, and conspiracy to convey phones into prison. Today, he was handed a twenty month suspended sentence and a community order in relation to the money laundering offence. Dad of Joseph Whittingham.

  • Lucy Whittingham, 37, from Bradford, pleaded guilty to money laundering. She has today been handed a two year suspended sentence and a community order. Wife of Joseph Whittingham.