CONVICTS smuggling drugs in to prison are selling them for ten times more than the street value, a court has heard.

Inmates at HMP Bullingdon, Bicester, are thought to be charging 'in excess of five figures' for the banned substances.

So-called Spice, a form of synthetic cannabis banned last year, is being sold by prisoners for about £100 per gram, Oxford Crown Court was told in a report from the prison on Tuesday.

The revelations came as Matthew Ramsey was jailed for two years after claiming he was hassled into bundling a drugs package into Bullingdon.

Sentencing the 44-year-old, Judge Ian Pringle QC condemned Ramsey for committing the 'serious offence', adding: "Drugs in prison are something we must try to cut out, if we at all can."

Ramsey went into the jail's search room as he was being checked in, when officers discovered a 'substantial' item hidden between his legs after removing his underwear.

He claimed he did not know what the package was when quizzed by prison staff but later confessed he had tried to smuggle in 101.24g of spice.

Cannabis and buprenorphine were also uncovered in the package brought into the jail on February 3, prosecutor Sandra Beck told the court.

The convict denied he had any forbidden items when grilled by prison guards two days later, but a Zanco Bee phone was spotted during a cell search.

Defence barrister Janick Fielding said Ramsey, who had 49 convictions for at least 80 offences, was pressured into taking the drugs into the prison after news spread of his return to the jail.

Father-of-two Ramsey planned to use some of the drugs to 'get through his sentence' and the mobile phone to call his daughter, the barrister claimed.

The barrister went on to say the convict, who must pay a victim surcharge, has since been moved to HMP Woodhill for his own safety.

Ramsey admitted three counts of conveying a list A article into or out of a prison and unauthorised possession of a device capable of transmitting or receiving electronic communication inside a prison.

Judge Pringle also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and the mobile phone.