A 35-year-old prisoner pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Kirk Orlando Mundy admitted having 0.96 grams of the drug in his cell. Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner added 18 months to the 16-year sentence he is now serving for robbery and use of an imitation firearm.

The court heard that Mundy was caught with the drug on June 8. Police responded to a report of drug use at Westgate Prison at 9.15 a.m.

The officers searched Mundy's cell and found two small packages containing plant material. A government analyst later confirmed that the plant material was indeed cannabis and weighed 0.96 grams.

Mundy was jailed in 1997 after he pleaded guilty to the 1995 robbery of a Bank of Butterfield Security vehicle. The Jamaican was also one of two men arrested in connection with the murder of 17-year-old Canadian Rebecca Middleton in 1996.

He was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact before forensic tests were complete, and was jailed for five years for that offence. Mundy is the second Westgate prisoner to appear in Magistrates' Court on cannabis possession charges in two days.

Jason Wheatley, 28, had 18 months added to his 14-year sentence after he was caught with 0.17 grams. Both men were given six months for possession of the drug and an additional 12 months for possession in Westgate, an increased penalty zone.