A PRISON officer has been suspended after apparently snorting cocaine while in his work uniform.
Footage shows him chatting in a car with ex-inmates before inhaling a substance from a CD case with a rolled-up note.
Sources say he had just left the Golden Goose pub in Redditch, Worcestershire, nine miles from HMP Hewell where he works.
A man in the back, believed to be an ex-lag he had bumped into, says: “If ever you need anything let me know, take my number and that.”
As the guard snorted the man asks: “Bit lumpy for you?”
Somebody in the car then says: “Put the phone down.” The officer was in a jacket with HM Prison Service and his number on it. He left the jacket in the car.
A witness said: “I’ve done several years in jail and never come across anything like this.
"He seemed to know what he was doing, and comfortable with the whole thing.”
A source added: “His actions have exposed him to the threat of blackmail.”
The Sun on Sunday alerted prison bosses after being sent the footage.
The Prison Service said: “An officer has been suspended and a police investigation is ongoing.”
HMP Hewell houses 1,278 lags.
Its latest inspection said there was no coherent approach to tackling drugs at the prison.
A previous report said 70 per cent of cons said drugs were easy to obtain and that a quarter had developed drug habits there.
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