I stood and watched as drones dropped takeaways, drugs and knives into HMP Manchester... now Britain's top prison inspector has a chilling prediction about the future - and why we should all be worrie

Night-time at Wandsworth Prison in South-West London and the walls are bathed in a soft, yellow light from security lamps. HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, was subject to the angry hum of drones on at least 220 occasions in the past year Last month, Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, released excoriating reports into both HMP Manchester and Long Lartin which led him to conclude that the Prison Service has 'ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs'. Prison officers I approached at HMP Manchester said they had been told not to comment on the drone threat, although Mr Taylor said many officers at the prison were inexperienced and being 'intimidated' by inmates. A bag containing drugs and mobile phones is seized as it's flown by drone into HMP Pentonville In April last year, a husband and wife 'gun for hire' team were jailed for carrying out more than 100 drone drops into 11 prisons and young offender institutes. A 'no drone zone' sign hangs on the outer wall of HMP Manchester Five IRA inmates and a man previously involved in an armed prison escape used two smuggled 9mm pistols during their escape over the prison's walls.