Melbourne detention centre worker jailed for delivering meth, cannabis to inmate by drone

A Melbourne detention centre worker has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail for plotting to use a drone to smuggle meth and cannabis to an inmate.

A Melbourne detention centre worker used a drone to smuggle drugs to an inmate. Picture: Supplied

A Melbourne detention centre worker plotted to used a drone to smuggle meth and cannabis to an inmate in exchange for more than $11,000.

Dean Heywood has been sentenced to a maximum two years and six months in jail after an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Heywood was a Serco officer at the Melbourne facility when he exchanged more than 1800 messages with the detainee between November 2021 and February 2022.

A NACC statement said those messages discussed and arranged the purchase and supply of methamphetamine, cannabis and other contraband at the centre.

“Mr Heywood made several attempts to deliver the drugs and contraband to the detainee in person, with mixed success,” the statement said.

“Alternate plans were extensively discussed including throwing the items over a fence, using a drone, or sending them by mail or courier.”

NACC said those communications were a serious breach of public trust.

The statement said Heywood was last week sentenced in the County Court after making a plea of guilty to the charge of abuse of public office in March this year.

He will be eligible for release in six months.

The result came out of Operation Meda, a joint investigation by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and the Department of Home Affairs, which later formed NACC.

It was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Herald Sun revealed in August last year there had been 1600 seizures of drugs or drug paraphernalia in the system in the previous 12 months.

Authorities say that has been a major factor in violence within the facilities.