A prison officer who formed relationships with two prisoners at HMP Coldingley and had sex with one of them in the prison’s multi-faith prayer room has been warned by a judge to prepare for jail.
The 23-year-old woman was convicted last week of two counts of misconduct in a public office and one of conspiracy to convey a prohibited article into prison. She is expected to be sentenced in January.
Her trial at Southwark Crown Court heard that she had the nickname of a 33-year-old prisoner tattooed on the back of her neck, bought a £3,000 promise ring under his instruction, wrote him love letters, and hung a framed picture of the two of them together over her bed.
One day in July 2022, she and the man were seen to go together into the multi-faith room, which was not covered by CCTV cameras. Prosecutor Kieran Brand told the court: “They remained there for four minutes while two inmates appeared to act as lookouts. They both emerged from the room together and walked back towards the wing, with [the officer] appearing to readjust her belt area on the right-hand side of her hip.
“The prosecution say it is clear they went in there for some form of sexual activity.” After the encounter the prisoner sent the officer a message stating: “It was good sharing dat love today, ur p**** [is] amazing.”
Messages later recovered from her phone showed that she was also having a relationship, said in court to be sexual, with another prisoner, aged 28. She had also messaged at least two other prisoners on their illicit phones. She claimed in court that she did not realise that prisoners were not permitted to possess mobile phones.
The woman, who joined the prison service in 2021, told the court that she did not fit in with her colleagues, who would mock her tattoos. She sought companionship from prisoners, and claimed that the 33-year-old had “instructed” her to buy the ring “to prove my loyalty to him”. She admitted to having phone sex with the man but claimed there was no physical relationship.
After the prisoner was transferred to HMP Swaleside she continued to write to him there, including a letter in which she wrote: “Wearing your promise ring, having you tattooed on me for life are all things I take ownership in – there is nothing I feel more proud of than being known as your girl.”
Some of the letters she sent were laced with Spice, and she also operated a drug-dealing social media account on his behalf. She was arrested while visiting the man at Swaleside in November 2022.
Following her conviction, Judge Chris Hehir told the woman she had committed “very grave offences”, and told her that she should “prepare emotionally and physically to go to prison”.
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