Mother of four who spent 19 days in jail now wants compensation after police admit she has not broken the law and release her

A mother of four who was jailed for taking a legal high into a prison during a visit has been released after prosecutors realised they were wrong over the charge.

Sharon Bolton, 38, spent 19 days in prison and missed her daughter's 18th birthday while she was locked up.

She had been jailed for taking Voodoo, a legal high, into prison during a visit to a former partner because it was believed to be on a list of 'banned substances.'

However prosecutors were forced to admit they had made a mistake when they realised Voodoo was not on the 'banned list' and Ms Bolton had not actually committed a crime.

She was then released from prison after 19 days.

The grandmother of three is now set to demand compensation from the Crown Prosecution Service, which has admitted there could be other cases of people wrongly punished for having substances which are not classed as illegal.

She said: 'I was put in a cell on my own and I was really nervous. We were locked up 21 hours a day. 'My concern was for my family. Two of my children live at home. 'My grandson was a few weeks old.'

Ms Bolton, whose children are aged between 16 and 22, was sentenced to nine months in jail after she took Voodoo into a prison where she was visiting a former partner, according to Louise Smith, of the Daily Mirror.

She was told Voodoo was on a list of 'banned substances' and pleaded guilty at a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on September 18 to 'conveying a prohibited item into prison'.

While she was serving her sentence at HMP Peterborough prosecutors realised their mistake and the 38-year-old was taken back to court where Judge Michael Heath ordered her release.

A spokesman for the CPS admitted there could be other cases where people had been incorrectly punished. He said 'a small number of cases' were now being checked. 'The decision to charge was made by the police,' he added. 'But we acknowledge the issue should have been picked up.'

When he jailed Ms Bolton in September, Judge Michael Heath said: 'There has to be an element of deterrence. Those people who take items like this into prison have to go to prison themselves.'

Ms Bolton, of Rhodesia, Notts, was also given a six-month conditional discharge for possessing amphetamine.

Original report here

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