A man who threw packages containing drugs and mobile phones into a Suffolk prison has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Sentencing Ben Phillips, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said it was difficult for prison authorities to maintain order with the current overcrowding problem in prisons and  packages containing drugs and mobile phones being thrown into prisons made the situation even more difficult.

Phillips, of Dyer Way, Romford, admitted throwing a package containing cocaine and cannabis into HMP Highpoint, near Haverhill and Newmarket in west Suffolk, on May 3 this year.

The 39-year-old also admitted throwing a package containing mobile phones into the Stradishall prison on the same date.

He was given a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, a 40-session Thinking Skills programme and a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that Phillips was arrested after he and another man were seen throwing packages into the prison.

Phillips told police he had acted under duress as he and his family were threatened by Somalian drug dealers after his son ran up a £5,000 drug debt.