Posing cons who posted bragging selfies from jail are violent thugs who bit off a man’s ear, ran cocaine rings and blew up an ATM
We reveal the crimes behind the shameless grins
APPALLING images revealing prisoners' cushty life behind bars shocked the nation this week.
The brazen snaps, taken from the social media accounts of drug dealers and bank robbers, show inmates drinking booze, taking drugs and getting takeaways delivered to their cells in what has been dubbed Britain's worst prison.
But who are the lags in the shocking photos? Here, we reveal the crimes behind the shameless grins.
1. Ryan Phillips
Ryan Phillips, from Bristol, was for conspiracy to supply cocaine last year.
He was one of a gang of four men who were busted for their roles in a £330,000 cocaine dealing operation.
Phillips, then 24, was sentenced to four years behind bars - while his father Shaun, then 46, was given six-and-a-half years.
2. Aaron Davies
Aaron Davies, also known as Aaron Blewett, is described a 'prolific thief'.
Also from Bristol, the serial offender was also jailed in 2010 for stealing cigarettes after storming a shop wearing masks.
During the raid, a shopkeeper was hit in the face.
On his Facebook page, which remains public, Blewett - who appears to have a facial tattoo - can be seen in a number of selfies snapped inside the prison.
3. Simon Inker
Simon Inker was jailed in 2005 for three years after admitting burglary.
Inker, who was 30 years old at the time and homeless, stole items including a camcorder and keepsakes from a child's early years - taking items to sell for drugs.
Just a year earlier he was jailed for two years for stealing jewellery - and is thought to now be out of prison.
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4. Ben Perks
Ben Perks was put behind bars for five years in 2015 after he bit off a man's ear at a party in Bristol in 2014.
Perks, who has not one but TWO convictions for eating biting, had been out of prison for just three months when he attacked Luke Clarke.
Bristol Crown Court heard Perks' behaviour towards women resulted in the fight.
5. Russell Bennett
Russell Bennett, from Bristol, received a seven-and-a-half year sentence after blowing up cash machines in South Wales.
Bennett, along with Benjamin Barrett, raked in over £80,000 by smashing holes in remote ATMs, pumping oxygen into them and igniting the gas.
Bennett, 22, from Bristol, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life and two counts of burglary and was jailed for eight years, with Barrett getting eight-and-a half years.
Bennett also got six months for trying to smuggle a phone into prison.
6. Richard Parsons
Parsons was detained in a young offenders' institution in 2008, at the age of 20, following an unprovoked attack on a student in Bristol while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Even then, the court heard Parsons had numerous previous convictions for robbery, battery and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was jailed again last year for a different attack.
7. Carl Brennan
Carl Brennan was spotted in video footage from September necking homemade vodka in prison - while his Facebook page features selfies snapped in front of his prison bunk bed.
Outrage was sparked this week as it was revealed the group of lags regularly post pictures on social media bragging about brewing homemade vodka and flouting the laws banning prisoners from luxuries such as playing games consoles.
It is thought the men are prisoners at HMP Guys Marsh, in Dorset.
One shocked Facebook friend – who did not want to be named - said: “They're having a great time, messing about and that."
He added: "Prison can't be that much of a punishment - they look more like they're having a right laugh like students."
The gang of up to eight inmates are all serving their sentences at the category C prison, which holds prisoners on life sentences and indeterminate periods.
The friend added: "Some of them are drug dealers, others have done robberies, one did a machete attack - there's about five or six of this group that are getting away with doing whatever they want.
"One post was for a friend's birthday and they were bragging about getting drunk.
"One is in jail for drug dealing and they are bragging about taking steroids."
Videos posted on Instagram show the group partying in their cells and fighting each other.
A prison service spokesperson said:"This behaviour is unacceptable. We will be referring this matter to the police for investigation and have had the social media profiles removed.
“We are stepping up measures to find and block mobile phones in prisons and those found with them face extra time behind bars.”
The six lags who used illegal mobile phones to brag about taking drugs and drinking in jail could face longer sentences.
On Wednesday the Ministry of Justice said that four out of the six chums involved in the posts have been moved to other prisons.
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