Sister gets 6 months imprisonment for smuggling phones to jailed brother

A woman who helped smuggle mobile phones to her extremist brother in a British prison has been jailed for six months.

Rahimah De Silva, 24, from Luton in Bedfordshire, had also plotted with her brother, Denny De Silva, to transport SIM cards and chargers into HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, between August 2020 and January 2021.

While serving the life sentence for murder, Denny De Silva used the phones to access and disseminate Islamist extremist material, police said.

After an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), Rahimah De Silva admitted conspiring to convey List B articles into prison and was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.

In July, Denny De Silva, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication and conspiring to convey List B articles into prison.

He was jailed for 45 months in September.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of CTPSE, said: “Rahimah De Silva has now been sentenced for conspiring with her brother to smuggle phones into prison.

“CTPSE works closely with the prison service to disrupt access to illicit items by those in prison, including preventing terrorists from spreading their radicalising influence behind bars,’’ he said.