A MAN locked up for his involvement in a violent cannabis factory raid was caught illegally messaging his father while in prison, a court heard.

Dillon Kow, 31, and four co-defendants robbed a sophisticated cannabis factory worth £90,000.

The raid left a man suffering ‘life-threatening’ injuries from stab wounds.

In 2018, Kow was handed a sentence of nine years and seven months and locked up at HMP Guys Marsh, near Shaftesbury

However, while serving his sentence he was caught with a mobile phone hidden in shoes and a stereo.

Prosecuting, Matthew Mortimer, told Bournemouth Crown Court on November 10 that during a search of his cell on March 26, 2021, an iPhone was found in the sole of one of his shoes and a phone charger in the second shoe.

The defendant denied knowledge of the phone and another inmate later confessed it to being theirs.

On May 22, Kow was caught a second time with the sim of the phone hidden within the dial of a stereo station within his cell.

Analysis of both the phone and the sim confirmed correspondence between Dillon Kow and his father Peter Kow.

On September 7, officers attempted to search another inmate’s cell but a blocked door delayed entry and the inmate was seen throwing an object out of the window.

A Nivea Men cosmetics bottle was located with another mobile phone inside, with data connecting to the defendant.

Dillon Kow pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing an unauthorised item inside prison and one count of sending an image whilst inside prison.

The defendant was only released from prison two days before his hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday.

Defending Kow, Ruba Huleihel said at the time of the offences the defendant was punished whilst in custody by having his television removed, his amount of money reduced and lost his job as a wing cleaner.

She added that during the pandemic, contact with the outside was extremely limited to prisoners and that the defendant, who is the father of four children, only used the devices to keep in contact with his family.

The defendant also expressed his guilt for getting his father into trouble after he had turned his life around.

Peter Kow, 51, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender by knowingly communicating with a serving prisoner.

Defending Peter Kow, Jonathan Underhill, told the court that his defendant did something ‘very stupid but perhaps very understandable’ to keep in contact with his son.

He added that Kow senior works hard to support his family and leads a law-abiding life.

Mr Recorder Charles Langley sentenced Dillon Kow to 14 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, along with 80 hours of unpaid work.

Peter was handed a 12-month community order and must do 40 hours of unpaid work.