A former prison inmate who was found with smuggled drugs and steroids in his locker has been spared a further jail sentence after a judge heard how he was bullied into taking part.

Daniel Evans was serving a sentence for robbery at Channings Wood prison near Newton Abbot when he was pressured into helping others who had smuggled drugs into the jail.

He was too frightened to resist because he claimed to have suffered three knife attacks while in custody and feared he would be stabbed again.

Evans, aged 34, of Knighton Road, Plymouth, admitted possession of Spice, testosterone, nandrelone, and trenbelone with intent to supply and possession of a mobile phone in prison.

He was jailed for nine months, suspended for a year and ordered to do 30 days rehabilitation activities and do 100 hours unpaid community work by Recorder Mr Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

He said he was suspending the sentence because of the pressure which Evans was put under and the progress he has made while on probation supervision since his release.

Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, said the drugs and phone were all found during a search of Evans’ locker at Channings Wood on February 2, 2017.

The search was carried out after prison officers saw items being thrown over the perimeter fence from outside. They had already been removed by the time the officers reached the scene.

Miss Cassel said the Crown do not accept Evans’s claim to have been coerced into taking part, although it is accepted that pressure from other inmates is a part of prison life.

She said checks on his prison record showed that although he had been attacked twice while serving his four-year-sentence, neither had involved a knife.

The first had been before he reached Channings Wood and the second, in which he suffered a broken nose, occurred while he was an inmate there.

Mr Michael Brown, defending, said Evans only agreed to hide the drugs because of threats from other inmates. They gave him a bag and he suspected it contained contraband.

He said he had suffered a series of assaults including three in which he was threatened with a knife and suffered minor cuts.

Mr Brown said Evans has been doing well on supervision since his release in October. He how has a home and returning him to jail would set back his progress.