A court officer was jailed for over six years for smuggling contraband into a Greenwich prison.

Umeir Akhtar, 27, of Lea Bridge Road, also pleaded guilty to possessing a handgun and ammunition, but not before letting his housemate take the blame for almost a year.

Akhtar smuggled the goods into the prison, which included drugs and mobile phones, inside legal paperwork and DVD players.

However when the police tracked down who was providing the contraband to Akhbar’s house and found the firearm, he denied any knowledge of it and let his housemate be charged with the offence.

He was sentenced to six years and two months imprisonment at Wood Green Crown Court on January 12.

Security staff at HMP Thameside reported that they had found mobile phones, alcohol and drugs concealed in two prisoners’ legal paperwork on May 18, 2015.

A search of a different prisoners' cell on June 23, 2015 uncovered two more mobile phones hidden in a prison DVD player.

A phone number was also found by the London prison anti-corruption team written on paperwork seized from a prison cell.

Officers arrested Akhtar in November 2015 when they were able to trace the phone number back to him and revealed he was in contact with the prisoners.

Akhtar was based at Inner London Crown Court, employed as a court officer by Serco.

A separate investigation on October 5, 2015, saw officers execute a drugs warrant at Akhtar’s address where they found a black revolver air gun, ammunition and a small quantity of cannabis.

Akhtar and a woman in her 20s was arrested, but in the police interviews he denied any knowledge of the gun and the woman was charged with firearms offences.

However, in October, 2016, Akhtar requested to be re-interviewed and he admitted he had hidden the firearm in the woman's room a few days before the warrant was executed.

The charges against the woman were subsequently dropped and Akhtar was charged with the firearms offences on November 2, 2016.

Akhtar pleaded guilty to the firearms charges at Southwark Crown Court on November 10, 2016.

He had admitted the conveying prohibited articles into a prison charges at the same court on October 13, 2016. Both cases were subsequently listed together for sentence.

Detective Constable Robert Hinson, of the Met's London prison anti-corruption team, said: “Umeir Akhtar abused his position as a Court Officer by providing three prisoners with mobile phones, a cannabis substitute and alcohol.

“The London prison anti-corruption team works hard to arrest and prosecute Prison Officers and court officials involved in smuggling prohibited articles into prisons.

“The jail sentence handed to Akhtar today should act as a deterrent to all court employees who may be asked to traffic prohibited articles for prisoners in their care.”

Detective Constable Barry Hart, of the Mets trident and area crime command, said: “Umeir Akhtar told officers in interview that he felt he had ruined his life by committing these offences.

“This conviction serves as a reminder to anybody involved in the possession, supply and use of prohibited weapons that officers from Trident will continue to actively pursue and place them before the courts.”

Akhtar was sentenced to five years imprisonment for possessing the handgun and 18 months for the ammunition, to be served concurrently.

He was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for conveying prohibited articles into prison, to be served consecutively to the firearms sentence.

No separate sentence was given for the possession of cannabis.