A prison officer jailed for smuggling a mobile phone into jail for use by a drugs gang has lost an appeal against his sentence.

Meanwhile, a member of the gang has secured a suspension of his jail term.

Robert Sewell, aged 30, who had been a serving prison officer at Isle of Man Prison since February 2018, was jailed for 12 months last November.

The court heard he was corrupted into smuggling a mobile phone into the jail for gang ring leader Francis Dunne and Jamie Smith who were both on remand.

Sewell was arrested just as the Jurby jail featured in a weekly prime-time television documentary Best Little Prison in Britain?

At an appeal court hearing it emerged for the first time that the prison officer had been given the phone by Jamie Smith’s sister with whom he’d had a short sexual relationship.

Sewell has refused to reveal his motivation for smuggling in the phone and denied receiving any threats/intimidation or financial or other incentive.

The phone was used over at least two days by Dunne, who led the organised crime gang and was subsequently jailed for six and a half years for drug trafficking offences.

Sewell, of Douglas, sought permission to appeal against his sentence on the ground it was ’manifestly excessive’.

The appeal court granted permission but then dismissed his appeal.

Judge of appeal Jeremy Storey QC and Deemster Alastair Montgomerie ruled that his sentence of 12 months’ custody may have been high, but it was not manifestly excessive.

The judges said the introduction of the mobile phone into the prison must have taken considerable planning as well as requiring the corruption of a prison officer.

They said: ’It is difficult to think of a much more serious case of introducing a prohibited List B article into prison.’

Meanwhile, a member of the drugs gang has seen his jail term cut on appeal.

Darren Dooley, 30, of Oak Avenue, Pulrose, had been sentenced to 32 months’ custody for conspiracy to import cannabis and being concerned in the supply of the drug.

His lawyer argued that the sentence was manifestly excessive.

Dooley admitted that he used his mobile phone between August and October 2017 to facilitate the supply of 1.5kgs of cannabis resin to a number of his acquaintances - although he denied personally selling any drugs.

He had a previous conviction for money laundering and having been released from prison had re-established his successful plumbing business.

At the sentencing hearing, the court heard Dooley was the model of a rehabilitated offender who had offered his plumbing services for free during the Covid crisis to health workers and vulnerable residents.

The appeal court judges quashed the sentences of 24 months and eight months’ custody and substituted consecutive ones of 11 months and five months.

They also suspended the total sentence of 16 months’ custody for two years and imposed a supervision order for two years.

Judge of appeal Storey and Deemster Montgomerie ’unhesitatingly’ found there was good reason to suspend the sentence.

They concluded this given the proven rehabilitation, the low risk of reoffending, the low risk of serious harm to the public and the exceptional personal mitigation.