A woman who was sentenced to jail term hid a loaded gun in her vagina to smuggle it into prison and officers didn’t find it until weeks later.

Amy Wilhite, 39, brought the .22 calibre revolver to Boone County Jail in Missouri, the US, on February 14, fully loaded with five rounds.

Officers carried out a pat and a strip search but failed to find the weapon.

They didn’t track it down until 17 days later, at which point it was wrapped up in plastic among White’s possessions, The Smoking Gun reports.

In a probable cause statement, investigators alleged that Wilhite had “removed the firearm from her body and concealed it within her personal belongings.”

During questioning at the jail, Wilhite admitted possessing the firearm, but claimed “she was only holding it for another female detainee.”

However, fellow inmates in Wilhite’s housing unit “all stated Amy was in possession of the firearm,” an investigator reported.

She later pleaded guilty to “delivery or concealment” of the weapon at a Circuit Court hearing.

Wilhite was ordered to serve a decade in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

She also pleaded guilty to felony drug and weapons counts for which she was originally arrested and told to serve five years on each conviction.

All terms will run concurrently.