Prison affair
Who is Amy Hatfield? Prison nursing assistant who flooded jail with spice drug and had sexual relationship with dealer
Hatfield smuggled the drugs into the prison using soft drink bottles
AMY Hatfield was a prison worker at HMP Lindholm who “flooded” the jail with the deadly drug known as “spice”.
The shocking details of her spice scheme are explored in the Channel 5 documentary My Boyfriend Made Me Do It, which includes the moment that she was caught with £1 million worth of drugs.
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A sinister prison romance
Hatfield was working as a mental health nursing assistant at HMP Lindholme, South Yorks, when she began a relationship with one of the prison’s inmates: Joseph Whittingham.
Judge Kirstie Watson would later say that Whittingham “exploited” Hatfield’s attraction to him, but added that she “embraced” his “feelings” for her.
Whittingham, who was 35 years old at the time, was able to persuade the nursing assistant to join his sinister crime ring which smuggled drugs into the prison.
Soon, Hatfield was having drugs, including spice, delivered to her home before sneaking them into Whittingham’s hands.
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She would also give the dangerous substances to a convicted murderer named Anthony Campbell, who would sell them in the prison.
Soon, according to Prosecutor Gordon Stables, “HMP Lindholme was flooded with drugs”.
During this time, Hatfield and Whittingham had begun a full-blown affair.
It was later discovered that they were having sex in prison and were sharing explicit pictures on smuggled phones.
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Hatfield’s plot is foiled
Hatfield’s scheme finally unraveled in October 2019, when she was caught trying to smuggle £1 million worth of drugs into the jail.
She had hidden two litres of spice inside Ribena bottles.
The staggeringly huge amount of spice was estimated to be the equivalent of 144,000 doses of the drug.
Later, in court, it was heard that the smuggled spice was strong enough to make some of the prison’s staff fall ill after accidentally inhaling the fumes.
Toxicology tests found that the spice seized by the prison guards matched a batch which had killed another inmate, Kyle Batsford, who had been pressured into taking the substance.
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Criminal web
A 19-week trial followed Hatfield’s arrest, which ended in both the nursing assistant and her 16 co-conspirators being handed long-term jail sentences.
Judge Kirstie Watson told Hatfield that her actions had been a "significant breach of trust and abuse of position".
She added: "It must have been clear to you the impact the increased use of drugs was having on the prison population and the increased workload and stress on your colleagues."
Hatfield was sentenced to 10 years and two months in prison, while her lover, Whittingham, was jailed for more than 11 years.
Their web of co-conspirators, who supplied and sold the drugs, was found to stretch from Liverpool to Nottingham but each member was put behind bars.
Anthony Campbell was jailed for 11 years, alongside his mum Deborah Stoddard who was described as a “driving force” in the operation.
Det Sgt Gareth Gent, of the South Yorkshire Police Prison Anti-Corruption Unit "unprecedented four-year investigation into one of the most significant and complex prison conspiracies in the country".
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My Boyfriend Made Me Do It
A documentary which details the unravelling of Hatfield’s scheme aired on Channel 5, on November 12, 2024.
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The show, titled My Boyfriend Made Me Do It, covers various instances of women being manipulated or forced into committing crimes.
Viewers can watch the other episodes of the crime documentary series on My5.
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