Baby-faced criminals try to smuggle drugs into jail

CRIMINAL records of two young men who tried to smuggle drugs into A QLD jail show a complete disregard for the law and look like resumes of career criminals.

Jack Noel Spark faced Townsville Magistrates Court on a string of offences including damaging a GPS tracking bracelet.

CRIMINAL records of two young men who tried to smuggle drugs into Capricornia Correctional Centre show a complete disregard for the law and look like resumes of career criminals.

Nathan Allan Cameron, 27, and Jack Noel Spark, 20, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court on Thursday to one count each of supplying dangerous drugs with aggravating circumstances.

As they stood in the dock, they looked like they should have been standing in children's court and not in front of adults district court Judge Paul Smith.

Crown prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence said they had used the prison phones to call Spark's girlfriend and threaten her into bringing 150 strips of a restricted drug.

"The problem is people go to jail for rehabilitation and this disrupts that rehabilitation process," Judge Smith said.

Cameron also pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, while Spark pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle and drug related charges.

Cameron had offered to pay someone to get Spark's girlfriend to retract her statement so he could apply for parole.

Ms Lawrence said Cameron's criminal record included 68 offences with 15 different court appearances including trafficking drugs, entering premises and stealing, producing dangerous drugs and supplying dangerous drugs.

Cameron was busted trafficking drugs from the Spanish Lace Motel on Bowen Rd, Townsville, after hotel staff complained to police the room had been paid for with counterfeit notes.

Text messages on his phone showed he had been trafficking for eight days, conducting 17 supplies, turning over up to $10,600. Four years earlier, Cameron was sentenced along with his partner for producing drugs in a hotel room in Rasmussen in April 2013.

Ms Lawrence said Cameron was serving a seven year head sentence for previous convictions when he pleaded guilty on Thursday.

"That's a significant term for someone his age.

She said Spark had 32 offences on his criminal recorded with five court appearances with his history involving dishonesty and property offences, along with unlawful uses of motor vehicles.

Spark's record includes a crime spree in Townsville after he cut off his GPS tracking bracelet because it made him feel like he was being treated "like a paedophile".

His string of offences included failing to stop a motor vehicle, break and enter, obstructing police, wilful damage, stealing and other traffic offences.

Cameron's barrister Clare Hurley said her client had been born in Campbelltown, New South Wales, and his mother died when he was three-years-old so he was raised by his grandparents until they died when he was 14. She said Cameron then moved to Townsville where his sister lived.

Ms Hurley said it was when he started work drywalling that he was introduced to marijuana and then methamphetamines.

Spark's barrister Maree Willey said her client was one of nine children and he had dropped out of school during Grade 8, being diagnosed with ADHD not long after.

Judge Smith sentenced Cameron to a two-year head sentence with immediate parole eligibility. It is to be served cumulative to the sentence he had received for trafficking drugs and 13 supplies.

Judge Smith sentenced Spark to a two year head sentence, declared 186 days presentence custody with parole release on December 3, 2019.

Convictions were recorded for both offenders.

Originally published as Baby-faced criminals try to smuggle drugs into jail