ATTEMPTING to smuggle a mobile phone into prison on his first day in custody saw a Shalfleet man land back in court when he was released.

In what he described as a moment of stupidity, David Taylor, 38, of Fleet Way, was caught with a mobile phone as officers searched him on arrival at HMP Bullingdon, following a sentencing in Isle of Wight Magistrates Court.

Taylor was spared additional prison time when he appeared back in court yesterday (Wednesday).

Taylor has a number of previous convictions and was jailed for breaching a restraining order in May last year, prosecutor Paul Fairley told Isle of Wight Crown Court.

For Taylor, Helen Easterbrook said that taking the phone into prison was an "act of gross stupidity".

Ms Easterbrook said Taylor is a recovering drug addict and was in a state of withdrawal when he was taken to prison because he had missed a methadone prescription.

She said her client had the phone in his pocket when he was taken to prison.

"He wasn't thinking about what he was doing. It was not a deliberate act to try to get a phone into prison," Ms Easterbrook said.

Recorder Anna Midgley sentenced Taylor to eight months suspended for 18 months and an electronically monitored night-time curfew for three months.

He will also have to pay a £140 surcharge.

Recorder Midgley said: "You have been fortunate today. Make this the day you stop appearing before the courts."