A prisoner was caught making phone calls to his mother and ex-partner from The Mount Prison in Bovingdon and Brixton Prison in London.

Kieron Caesar, 26, had been sentenced to 14 months at Wood Green Crown Court on 30 May last year for supplying heroin and cocaine.

Prosecutor Peter Shaw told St Albans Crown Court that masts near both The Mount and Brixton Prison picked up the use of a mobile phone SIM card that was found on Caesar.

Caesar of Sandringham Road, Hackney pleaded guilty to having a banned item in prison. He admitted making illegal calls from the prisons, but said he was not in possession of a phone, merely a SIM card.

Samantha Bonner, defending, said Caesar had been detained for a further four and a half months after his release date while an investigation in him having the phone was carried out.

He had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had made admissions to the police.

She said he had called home because he was worried about his mother and was in contact at the time with an ex-partner.

Recorder Jonathan Lee QC told him: "You had a mobile phone in prison which is an offence that is taken very seriously because of the risk to people outside and to prison discipline."

But he said that after being caught with the phone his release from the previous sentence had been delayed for 4 and a half months.

The judge passed a six month sentence suspended for 12 months, ordered him to carry out 120 hours unpaid work and pay the victim surcharge of £80.