A crooked solicitor who smuggled drugs and mobile phones into two prisons hidden in oversized shoes has been jailed for six years.
Ritesh Brahmbhatt, 31, was caught by sniffer dogs as he attempted to smuggle the contraband into Pentonville Prison by stuffing them into shoes he was wearing three sizes too big for him. Security guards had become suspicious because of the high number of visits he was making to inmates later found to have drugs and phones in their cells.
A search found he was carrying three-inch packages containing skunk cannabis, the drug meow meow and mobiles in his slip-ons from outsize menswear shop High and Mighty.
The lawyer, who worked for Holloway law firm Mordi & Co and is currently suspended by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, admitted two plots in 2009. He also admitted conveying a mobile phone into Winchester prison while on bail for those offences, in February this year.
Sentencing him at Blackfriars Crown Court, Judge Deva Pillay described Brahmbhatt as a “devious, conniving and unprincipled individual”, and said he hoped the solicitor would be struck off for life. He said: “By virtue of your office you enjoyed privileges not open to the public when visiting clients in prison ... I hope that the law society will think long and hard before ever granting you again a licence to practise as a solicitor.”
The court heard nearly £20,000 passed through bank accounts before the racket was smashed. Four others involved were jailed for between three years and five and a half years.
