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A pharmacy technician who was jailed earlier this year for attempting to smuggle cocaine into prison has been struck off following a remote fitness to practise hearing.

Tanya Petrie was sentenced to six years and three months in March after receiving convictions in January 2025 and February 2026 of, respectively, bringing List ‘B’ prohibited items into HMP Bristol and of conspiracy to bring List ‘A’ prohibited items into the prison.

Ms Petrie, who worked as a pharmacy technician at HMP Bristol, was seen by police “retrieving a small flat item” from a wheelie bin early in the morning of October 17, 2023, and was arrested shortly afterward on suspicion of conveying prohibited items into prison.

Following a strip search in custody, she admitted to having a prohibited item hidden in her bra but said she did not know what the package contained. Upon inspection it contained cocaine, synthetic cannabinoid (‘spice’) and tobacco, the List A prohibited items cited in her February 2026 conviction.

The judge who sentenced her in March said the package contained almost two ounces of cocaine, which would have had a value of between £12,500 and £21,000 in prison, and 77g of spice.

During her interview under caution, she said a prisoner named Kyle Joyner had contacted her on Facebook and that she had received an initial payment of £800, which she had collected from a bin outside a property in Knowle West.

She then admitted to having previously brought seven SIM cards into prison in exchange for £2,000 – these comprised the List B items from her January 2025 conviction.

The sentencing judge said Ms Petrie had engaged in “a flirtatious online relationship” with a man who turned out to be a prisoner where she worked, and that she carried on with the relationship after learning of this.

The judge also found that Ms Petrie’s financial position was a factor motivating her conduct, noting that she was in debt.

Considering the case, the FtP committee said smuggling Class A and B drugs into the prison where she worked was “directly detrimental” to patients in her care.

The committee also noted that her smuggling SIM cards into prison had “helped to prop up illicit power structures” among the prison population, which could have led to harm being perpetrated on prisoners under her care. It was submitted that she

Ms Petrie was absent from the hearing having “made it very clear” she did not wish to engage with the FtP process, leading to the finding that she had “not shown any insight” into her behaviour or taken any steps to remediate her misconduct.

The committee concluded that her misconduct was “of the most serious nature” and said it had no option but to remove her from the register, also imposing an interim suspension order during the 28-day period despite Ms Petrie currently being in prison.