‘Breaking Bad’ labs, glam mules & addict lags forced to ‘fight like dogs’… the murky Spice underworld flooding prisons

IT’S the terrifying ‘fake cannabis’ that leaves users ‘zombified’ and has been responsible for nearly HALF of non-natural prison deaths.

Cooked up in dodgy “Breaking Bad-style” labs across the country, synthetic drug Spice has caused a “complete crisis” in UK lock-ups and is being smuggled in ingenious ways by a rising number of criminals. 

Among them was glamorous Abigail Kavanagh, 25, who was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years this week for her part in a £300,000 operation that included getting the dangerous fake weed into prisons. 

The kingpin – who also disguised MDMA as bath salts to smuggle it over borders – was found to have arranged Spice drop-offs to jails before being arrested as part of South Wales Police’s Operation Gemstone.

She’s just the latest prison peddler of the Class B drug, which has been nicknamed AK-47 and is often hidden in personal and easy-to-smuggle items including children’s drawings.

Shockingly, those who become addicted to Spice behind bars are being turned into ‘slaves’ and even made to “fight like dogs” for the amusement of dealers.

And most concerningly, the main culprits behind the trade are feared to be prison officers hiding behind a veneer of respectability.

Ian Hamilton, a professor in addiction at the University of York, said HMP workers are being corrupted more and more frequently, in part thanks to the cost of living crisis.

He tells The Sun: “There’s a lot of talk about clamping down on drugs in prisons but they still manage to get in.

“The more elaborate ways of getting in Spice, such as on children’s pictures, make the headlines but, if you want a regular, committed supply it is via staff. 

“There are problems with retention of prison staff and it’s not a well-paid job. Perhaps officers rely on extra money smuggling in drugs as part of their income, particularly now during a cost of living crisis.”

Now British crooks are seeing the value of Spice and are setting up amateur DIY labs in towns and cities around the country.

‘Explosive labs’

The presence of Spice in prisons has exploded at an alarming rate in the last decade, with 48 per cent of “non-natural” deaths between 2015 and 2020 attributable to the synthetic cannabinoids. 

Detective Chief Inspector James Faulkner, of Greater Manchester Police, previously spoke out about the deadly ‘cooking’ operations that put those who live nearby in harm’s way.

He told The Times: “We’re seeing more of the Breaking Bad-style labs. Flats and houses are at risk of blowing up because of the chemistry involved.”

More than 20 ingredients go into Spice, including hydrochloric and sulphuric acid, which is often imported in large quantities from China. But there are also other concerning components.

In a Swindon lab, marshmallow leaf, a rat poison compound and sweet flavourings were found in a raid that uncovered 40kg of the drug. 

The mix – which smugglers also ship out of the UK to far-flung locations including Kuwait and Nigeria – is so toxic that those creating it need to wear respiratory masks.

But innocent bystanders – including children – have been caught in the cross-fire of its production and transportation too.

A source told us a grandmother, mum and her children were found to have Spice in their systems after being admitted with “suspected food poisoning”.

“It turns out the dad was in prison and mum had smuggled in spice on the children’s drawings,” they told The Sun.

“She dried out the drawings on a baking tray which was then used to cook the tea that night.”

Smuggled in Ribena, legal docs & drawings

Smuggling via children’s drawings is just one of many ways crooks have tried to get the drug into prisons – including inside bottles of Ribena. 

That was the method of Amy Hatfield, 38, a mental health nursing assistant at HMP Lindholme, in South Yorks, who “flooded” the jail with illegal substances.

Her reign came to an end in October 2019, when she was found with £1million worth of drugs including two litres of Spice inside Ribena bottles – the equivalent of 144,000 doses, which could each sell for £50 a pop. 

Hatfield, who was having a sexual relationship with a prison dealer, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment last year. 

Also in 2023, Shay Bradshaw and Rachael Stewart were found to have soaked fake solicitors’ letters in the substance to smuggle it inside and were jailed.   

Ex-prisoner Stuart Reid, from Coventry, tells The Sun: “Inmates fake legal documents because they’re not meant to be photocopied, especially if you need to sign them.

“Addicts simply get friends and family to copy official documents to try and get Spice in that way.”

Crooked officers

Stuart, a reformed crook who served 10 years in Category A prisons for drug offences, suspects prison officers are the main culprits behind smuggling too.

He tells us: “Staff do a really difficult, dangerous, poorly paid job and can be tempted to bring in drugs.

“I’d say 90 per cent of staff are decent but there’s always that 10 percent who can be corrupted.”

HMP employees – including Hatfield, who fell in love with a prisoner – are being increasingly targeted after a crackdown on Spice being smuggled into lock-ups. 

A sheet of A4 paper has about 50 smokes on it at about £10 quid a time so there’s a lot of money to be made and whoever has the spice wields the power

Stuart Reid, reformed crook

The Government brought in new measures that saw inmates X-rayed and personal letters, cards and pictures photocopied before being handed over to jailbirds – but legal documents are exempt from this.

Stuart, who wrote the book 10 Years a Cat A, tells us Spice is used as a “currency” for revenge hits behind bars.

He says: “A sheet of A4 paper has about 50 smokes on it at about £10 quid a time so there’s a lot of money to be made and whoever has the Spice wields the power. 

“He controls who gets the drug, who is indebted to who and who forges alliances. I’ve seen inmates so desperate for it that they will rob other people’s cells even although they know the cameras are on them. They don’t care at that point.

“It’s used to control other prisoners, turning them into cleaners or gophers. Most will do anything for Spice including a hit, which might involve stabbing someone or pouring hot water over them.”

Twisted videos

Addiction to Spice cripples the users and twisted dealers find pleasure in filming and attacking those who are high. 

Some are forced or encouraged to be “guinea pigs” for new batches, which have increasingly toxic and terrifying effects.

Jordan Needham, who was serving nine years in HMP Lindholme, spent 10 days in a coma after being coerced into trying the variation of the drug. 

Another lag, Kyle Batsford, who was a 37-year-old father, died after being bullied into testing another batch in September 2019.

It emerged in a court case last year that he had lost full sight in one of his eyes because of it as well as the use of his legs. 

I saw people getting beat up over a smoke and made a slave

Stuart Reid, reformed prisoner

Other users are filmed being abused for the amusement of sickos, which is then shared on social media and with other inmates. 

Sickening mobile phone footage, obtained during the investigation into corrupted HMP employee Hatfield, revealed two high youngsters with makeshift leashes around their necks being encouraged to “fight like dogs”.

Another disgusting clip titled “HMP Spice Zombies”, which emerged in 2019, showed addicts using the drug being violently abused while unable to stand or fight back in a cell.

It shows one helpless user struggling to stand before he falls head-first into a wall while other inmates yell through laughter: “You’ve gone, you’ve gone man. Man down.”

Later he’s seen lying on the floor clinging to a sink with one hand. Another, who is arched over while sat down, is viciously slapped across the face but is unable to react. 

Reformed prisoner Stuart, who was jailed in 2014 for conspiracy to supply drugs, says he would never have got into trading Spice in prison because it’s so dangerous.

Stuart said: “I saw people getting beat up over a smoke and made a slave.

“One guy, who was a really smart, good kid ended up at the Belmarsh prison gate after giving away all his stuff, convinced that he was being let out that day. That’s how out of it he was on this stuff.”

‘Mass poisonings & madman attacks’

It’s not just lags being affected by Spice. Increasingly prison officers are at risk too – often after the drug has been consumed.

Ashley Maclean, who worked in Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey, suffered what were described as “horrendous facial injuries” after a high prisoner “violently attacked” him.

It was horrifying. I couldn’t open my eyes or even hold my head up. I was struggling to breathe because my chin was on my chest

Emma Sugrue-Lawrence, Spice spiking victim

The assault, which occurred days before Christmas back in 2018, was spoken out about before Parliament by his then-local MP Gordon Henderson.

The Tory candidate said: “This was not an isolated incident. It happens every day of every week in one or other of our prisons.”

That same year, prisoner Leighton Drew, 26, roared like an animal and then bit prison officer Thomas Morris after blacking out while high on the drug. 

Recalling the “off the scale” incident, the HM Prison Cardiff worker of 19 years, said: “He was like a madman.

“He continued to struggle and snarl then he bit me on my left wrist. He was fighting and trying to bite all or any staff member.”

Also in May, prison officers were victims of a “mass poisoning” after lags working in their canteen spiked a “staff special curry” with Spice. 

Nine ambulances were sent to high-security lock-up HMP Swaleside, in Kent, where as many as 25 employees were treated and three were taken to hospital. 

When you’ve got a churn of prisoners coming in and out, it’s another way for drugs to get in

Ian Hamilton, a professor in addiction at the University of York

Professor Hamilton told us: “You can imagine that there are all sorts of scores and vendettas to settle in prisons. 

“There is a huge variation in the way that officers treat the inmates and, I’m afraid to say, that some are bullies and use their power so you can see why this sort of retribution goes on.”

Escalating problem

Concerningly Professor Hamilton warns that the prison Spice problem could increase – especially because prisoners are being released early under Labour’s new law.

Named the SDS40 Early Release Scheme, those with certain offences and 40 per cent of the sentence remaining can be let out early.

While it was intended to ease prison overcrowding when in August just 100 spaces were left in lock-ups in England and Wales, Professor Hamilton says it could make the problem in jails worse.

He tells us: “When you’ve got a churn of prisoners coming in and out, it’s another way for drugs to get in. Testing equipment in prisons is laughable really because it’s so antiquated.”

Professor Hamilton said Spice is the drug of choice because it’s harder to detect and leaves the system as quickly as 24 hours – compared to non-synthetic cannabis which takes weeks.

Ex-prisoner Stuart says: “I don’t want to glamorise drugs in any way but you’ve got guys in high-security jails doing 30 years sentences who want to go somewhere else – and they are taken there by Spice. That’s the attraction. Sad, but true.”