A ‘STUPID’ drug smuggler was caught on camera attempting to throw ecstasy and cannabis into a prison while topless.

Terry Leach was caught with nearly £2,000 worth of the illicit substances and steroids, along with other prohibited items, outside HMP Risley last summer.

Last week, the 21-year-old was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Liverpool Crown Court.

The court heard that CCTV operators spotted the then teenage Leach acting ‘furtively’ and hiding in bushes near to the Warrington Road prison on the afternoon of July 1 2018.

Prison officers and police who alerted, with dogs units attending the scene before the steel fabricator was arrested.

He was caught with tobacco, cigarette papers, mobile phones and chargers as well as ecstasy valued at up to £600, more than £1,000 of cannabis and £105 of steroids.

Upon his arrest, Leach told police: "I was forced to do it, they dropped me off about two miles away and told me to walk the rest.

"I've been forced to do this."

The Liverpool Echo reports that he was already subject to a suspended sentence for smuggling drugs and phones into jails at the time of the offence.

Leach was handed a two-year term suspended for 18 months in December 2017 after being convicted of conspiracy to convey prohibited articles into prison.

He was part of a gang of 11 men and women who used drones to smuggle prohibited items into UK prisons including, HMP Risley, over the course of nearly two years.

Defence barrister Paul Wood told the court that his client was a drug addict who was trying to pay off a debt.

He added: "When one sees the CCTV footage, it's one of the most unsophisticated offences one can imagine.

"It is all there, in full colour.

"These were the actions of someone who was desperate and stupid.

"His world has changed significantly since then."

Leach, from Tipton near Birminghan, admitted possession of ecstasy, cannabis and steroids with intent to supply during an earlier hearing.