Female prison officer flings exposed from smuggled knickers to jail baby
Infatuated guard Cherri-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, was given a suspended sentence last week for the bizarre plot to have a baby with an 'extremely dangerous' inmate.
Former prison officer Cherri-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, almost landed herself in jail last week for her fling with 'extremely dangerous' inmate, sex offender Bradley Trengrove, 31.
The guard at HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset, had sex with the prisoner on as many as 40 occasions while she was on duty and had the lag's name on her phone as 'husband to be',
The mum-of-three became pregnant with Trengrove's baby, but suffered a miscarriage then tried to get pregnant again by 'artificially inseminating' herself with his sperm in a Calpol syringe.
But her case is far from rare.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) show 19 members of prison staff were charged with misconduct in public office between 2023 and 2024 - the highest number of guard and prisoner liaisons in the past 10 years.
Here we look at some of the other flings to be exposed behind bars.
Kerri Pegg
A prison governor was jailed for nine years last week for having a relationship with a drug-dealing gang boss at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire.
Kerri Pegg, 42, was branded a "rising star" of the Prison Service, rapidly climbing the career ladder from graduate to governor.
But her trial heard she "didn't play by the rules" and began a relationship with major Liverpool crime figure Anthony Saunderson, and helped him secure day release.
Sentencing her at Preston Crown Court, Judge Graham Knowles KC told Pegg: "You betrayed the public trust in you and you betrayed the Prison Service."
Tracy Boateng
Prison officer Tracy Boateng, 27, avoided jail last week after having a fling with a drug-dealing inmate.
The 27-year-old was arrested after colleagues found footage on her body-worn camera of her posing for a selfie with heroin dealer Vincent Ojo.
Other clips caught Boateng, an officer at HMP Pentonville, using sexualised language with the prisoner and hugging and kissing him while leaking confidential information on his files.
The mum appeared in Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced for a single count of misconduct in a public office.
Judge Caroline English said: "I cannot emphasise enough just how serious this offence is."
Katie Evans
Officer Katie Evans, 26, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in March after being "manipulated by an experienced criminal".
A judge said she had been "corrupted" by prisoner Daniel Brownley, who was jailed for attempted robbery, shortly after she started working at HMP Doncaster.
Evans had more than 140 phone calls with Brownley, moved money for him and supplied him with inside information.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said Brownley boasted to an ex-prison officer that she had performed oral sex on him.
Moss, defending, said Evans was "immature and vulnerable" at the time and is "absolutely ashamed of her behaviour".
Toni Cole
Guard Toni Cole was sentenced to 12 months behind bars in February after swapping more than 4,000 risqué messages with an inmate she had been entrusted to guard.
In January 2023, the 29-year-old engaged in a series of intimate trysts with a convict while working at Northamptonshire's new 'super-prison' HMP Five Wells.
Cole sent some 4,369 messages to the con and partook in 18 video calls while participating in "contact which was sexualised or flirtatious", including sitting on the knee of her lag lover and kissing him.
Hayley Jones
Prison teacher Hayley Jones, 33, pleaded guilty to having an "inappropriate relationship" with convicted killer Jordan McSweeney at HMP Belmarsh in August 2024.
Judge David Miller said: "Some of the evidence was that he was getting special favours or treatment. He may have been bragging to another prisoner about the power that he had over this person."
But despite the workshop instructor admitting to misconduct, charges were later dropped against McSweeney as there was "insufficient evidence" of his part in the fling.
McSweeney is serving a minimum of 33 years for the murder and sexual assault of Zara Aleena, a 35-year-old law graduate, in June 2022.
Linda De Sousa Abreu
HMP Wandsworth officer Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, was jailed for 15 months in January after a video was shared on social media showing her having sex with an inmate in a cell.
In a prepared statement, De Sousa Abreu claimed she was "terrified for her own safety" prior to the offences and feared she would be raped.
The officer, who previously described herself as a swinger, had a number of videos on adult platform Only Fans where she described herself as a "happily married sexy Latina" under a pseudonym.
At sentencing, Judge Martin Edmunds KC said: "It must have been obvious that the recording would be shown around and shared, at least amongst prisoners at Wandsworth where it would do the most harm."
Morgan Farr Varney
Prison guard Morgan Farr Varney's 'physical and romantic relationship" with an inmate was exposed after she was caught on CCTV sneaking into a cupboard with him at HMP Lindholme.
Love letters were then found during a search of Farr Varney's lover's cell and in her bedroom.
Farr Varney was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in January 2023.
She told officers she "proper fell in love" with the inmate, and said she was worried that she had "f****d" her life up.
The relationship continued after she quit her job.
Farr Varney pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office at Sheffield Crown Court in April last year.
Ayshea Gunn
Officer Ayshea Gunn, 27, was jailed for 12 months in December 2019 for a four-month fling with an inmate.
Her lover Khuram Razaq, 29, was serving time for armed robbery and assault and the pair exchanged more than 1,200 phone calls, including explicit video calls, while the prisoner was serving time at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham.
Gunn, who has a degree in criminology and psychology, smuggled items into the prison for Razaq, including a pair of knickers.
Sentencing Gunn, Judge Niclas Parry said the images were "highly sexualised and pornographic images" created "at significant risk".
Defence barriset Peter Hunter said Gunn had become depressed and was "at the bottom in her world".
Jennifer Gavan
Prison officer Jennifer Gavan was jailed in December 2022 for having an inappropriate relationship with prisoner Alex Coxon at HMP Berwyn in Wales.
Coxon, 25, bribed Gavan with £150 to give him a mobile phone, which they used to secretly carry out their relationship.
A court heard the pair were rumbled after Coxon's phone was discovered in his cell with explicit videoson it which had been sent through Snapchat.
Gavan later admitted to sending the image and that she'd kissed Coxon, an inmate with a track record of drugs and robbery.
She was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office and Coxon was handed 10 months for having a prohibited item in jail.
Corinne Redhead
Corinne Redhead, 29, was jailed for having an inmate's baby in 2022 following a secret year-long fling with convicted robber Robert O'Connor.
O'Connor was serving a 10-year sentence at The Mount prison in Hertfordshire when Redhead was working as a supervisor on the wing. The fling lasted from January 2018 to January 2019.
She was six months pregnant after a tip-off led to her fellow officers to search his single cell, where a mobile was found with Redhead's number saved under the name "my baby".
They had shared video calls and messages which showed they were having a sexual relationship.
Drea Becker, mitigating, told Luton Crown Court that Redhead made a "terrible mistake" and "expresses remorse and shame" but she was jailed for 25 months.
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