EXCLUSIVE 'I knew he was a sex offender... but I wanted a stable life': Prison officer reveals shame of sordid affair with convicted rapist after she was spared jail for behind bars fling
A female prison officer who tried to start a family with a rapist inmate she fell in love with has admitted she knew he was a sex offender - but believed he would provide her a 'stable life'.
Cherri-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, told MailOnline of her 'relief' that she was this week spared jail after admitting a six-month illicit affair with sex attacker Bradley Trengrove while working as a warden at HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset.
Saddington and Trengrove, who was serving 13 years for raping a woman and having sexual activity with a child, started their fling in August 2022 and had sex up to 40 times, often in prison workshops where nobody could see, her trial heard.
The female prison warden told Trengrove she was pregnant in November 2022, although she later miscarried after eight weeks.
After the 'extremely dangerous' inmate was transferred to another prison in March 2023, she visited him under a false name with a Calpol syringe in her bra to try and 'artificially inseminate' herself with his sperm, which he had wrapped in cling film.
Saddington, from Weymouth, was arrested after prison officers found she was not wearing underwear and had the empty syringe in her bra during the visit on May 26 2023.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline after she avoided jail, Saddington admitted: 'I knew he was a sex offender because it was sex offenders' prison.'
She added: 'I wanted a stable life. That's what I wanted. I don't know why I even entertained the idea of Bradley. I think I was just looking for someone to support me. I wanted that stable life that I wasn't getting anywhere else.'
MailOnline can also reveal that just two months after being arrested, Saddington started a new relationship with another man, whom she is now married to.
Saddington, who started working at HMP The Verne in 2019, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office, but was spared jail after a judge suspended her sentence for two years due to her being left in a wheelchair from a spinal stroke following her crimes.
'It's been a bit of a relief that it's been suspended,' she told MailOnline.
Saddington revealed that her relationship with Trengrove began when she was a 'broken person' and 'homeless' after her relationship with the father of two of her children ended.
She claimed she joined the Prison Service in 2019 to 'go in and make a difference' but soon realised 'that's not what the prison service is about' and struggled to work in a men's jail.
Timeline of prison guard's shame
July 2019: Saddington starts working at HMP The Verne
January 2022: Bradley Trengrove is transferred to The Verne to serve his 13-year sentence for rape and having sexual activity with a child.
August 2022: The prison guard and inmate start an illicit relationship, having sex up to 40 times.
November 2022: Saddington tells Trengrove she is pregnant but she loses the baby after around eight weeks.
March 2023: Trengrove is moved to HMP Channings Wood in Devon.
May 2023: Saddington attempts to visit Trengrove under a false name with a Calpol syringe so she can collect his sperm and 'artificially inseminate' herself. She is arrested after the visit.
November 2023: Saddington gets engaged to her new partner, whom she met in July that year - two months after her arrest.
February 2024: She suffers a stroke of the spine and is left paralysed and in a wheelchair.
May 2025: Saddington avoids jail after the judge handed her a two-year suspended sentence due to her life-changing injury. She has hailed her new partner as her 'rock' who has got her through the accident.
'When the relationship [with Trengrove] started, I was homeless, there was a lot going on with my family. I was trying to look after my family as well as deal with life as a mum of three kids and working and being put into temporary accomodation with the kids.
'Things were very difficult. I didn't have anybody to turn to or talk to. I just wasn't in a very good place or a stable mind at the time and Bradley came along.'
She continued: 'I look back at it now, and I see how manipulative his behaviour was at the time. At the time I saw somebody trying to help me out.'
When asked if she knew he was a rapist, she said: 'I knew he was a sex offender because it's a sex offenders' prison.'
But she claims he told him that he would be out in three months and had been framed over the rape and sexual activity with a minor.
Saddington said: 'When the police read me his sheet of offences I was so shocked and honestly disgusted. He's a very dangerous man.'
Speaking about how she feels about having sex with a convicted rapist, she said: 'I don't believe that he's innocent at all. It's disgusting.
'It's not something that is not nice to hear, or even think about. I feel disgusted.
'I'm ashamed of what's happened.'
During the affair, Saddington smuggled a mobile phone into the Category C prison for her lover so they could communicate.
The mother-of-three saved his name in her mobile under 'husband to be', a court heard. Her lawyer said they 'formed a very intense and infatuated relationship'.
Speaking about their relationship, she said: 'There were a lot of feelings involved at the time. He would come to me and would say "I'm going to build a house for us, I've spoken to my family, I've got a plot of land. Your children are going to have a home.
'"When I get out in a few months like this is all going to be over like we're not going to have anything to worry about."'
Saddington claims that although the trial heard the pair had sex 30 to 40 times, she can 'count on my hands how many times we had sex'.
She alleges that he kept saying he wanted to have a baby with her but she was on the coil - an IUD which prevents pregnancy by releasing copper into the womb.
'He removed my coil from me,' she claimed.
'After that, we had unprotected sex. I did fall pregnant and I had a miscarriage a few weeks after.'
In March 2023, Trengrove was moved to HMP Channnings Wood in Devon, where Saddington tried to send him intimate photos which staff intercepted.
She was finally snared when she tried to visit him using a fake name on May 26 2023, when she tried to smuggle in a syringe to collect his sperm.
Saddington admits she took a Calpol syringe into prison to 'inseminate' herself with Trengrove's sperm - but claims she was never going to go through with trying to get pregnant that way.
'Whilst I was sat outside the prison waiting to go in - and he'd been phoning me that morning as well - he was telling me that he wanted a baby with me. If he couldn't have that, then he was going to kill himself.
'He told me to bring a syringe in and was asking me to to inseminate myself with it, which I was absolutely disgusted by when he said it.
'I took the syringe in just so I could show him I had it so he didn't do anything to himself. It wasn't so I could carry out what he planned.'
Saddington was then arrested after prison officers found the syringe.
Speaking of the moment she was caught, she said: 'I just felt sick to be honest. I didn't know what to do with myself.
'I remember them taking me into the cell and strip searching me.'
Saddington met her new partner just two months after being arrested and they tied the knot in November 2024.
'He knew everything from the start. I told him everything from the start,' she said.
The couple have just moved into a new house which is more suited to her disability.
Saddington was left wheelchair-bound after suffering a spinal stroke in February 2024 - which is why the judge ruled she should be spared jail.
Judge Jonathan Fuller KC said: 'Had it not been for the accident that befell Miss Austin-Saddington, the sentence would have been an immediate sentence of imprisonment.'
In a message to other female prison officers falling for inmates, Saddington said: 'If people are having a tough time, then they need to reach out to somebody else.
'There is help out there for for officers that need it.
'What I did I massively regret and I am ashamed of it and disgusted.'
Sources close to the mother-of-three say she has 'gotten away' with not going to jail.
One told MailOnline: 'She never was a nice person. She's never going to change. She's gotten away with it really. I don't understand it [the fling], especially with three young kids, I don't understand it at all.'
And a landlady, who rented her Weymouth flat out to Saddington between December 2022 and March 2025, said she was 'not surprised at all' that the prison guard ended up having a fling with an inmate
'I think it's her character to be honest. There are so many young women having the same - falling in love with inmates. I can't comprehend it.'
The landlady said it was 'not fair' that she'd been spared jail for having a fling with a rapist inmate, adding: 'This is something that's not humanly possible. My mind would never imagine or comprehend this situation.'
Saddington has hailed her new partner, who has 'loveable c***' tattooed across his chest, as her 'rock' who has got her through her life-changing accident.
The besotted couple have also stayed together during the trial, which started at Poole Magistrates' Court in August 2024 and came to a close with the sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court this week.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
Doncaster city centre safety under review as part of consultation
People have been asked how safe they feel in Doncaster city centre as part of a consultation launched by the council and police.A recent survey found more than half of people who live and work in the city felt unsafe because of issues such as begging and anti-social council said people would now be asked to share their experiences of crime and other issues that were having an impact on their Glyn Jones, deputy mayor and cabinet member for safer communities, said the results would "help us decide what we ought to prioritise in the future and how to best use our collective resources to improve safety for our city". Jones said "significant headway" had already been made on improving safety, including through more council patrols, new CCTV and an increased police Supt Pete Thorp from South Yorkshire Police said the Safer Stronger Doncaster Partnership (SSDP) was seeing "real change and improvements".He said instances of the "most serious violence across the borough" had reduced by 25%.Mr Thorp said: "But it is important that we don't just rely on our assumptions or data to tell us if things are improving or not.""This consultation will allow us to effectively respond to residents' concerns and ultimately, we hope that this will result in residents feeling and seeing positive change."The consultation runs until 6 July and a series of events to discuss the results will be announced following its conclusion. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
‘I earn £38k as a train guard, but pocket extra cash catching fare dodgers'
'The secret life of…' pulls back the curtain on professions you've always wanted to know more about. If you want to anonymously reveal all about your job, email money@ I came to the railways about three years ago from the hospitality industry, where I worked in pubs and bars. I was, quite frankly, one bad pay cheque away from oblivion, making virtually no money despite working seven days a week. So joining the rail industry was a no-brainer given the pay, which was definitely the main attraction. Most people assume I'm a train driver when I tell them I'm a conductor. Others think I'm 'just a ticket inspector'. Both are wrong. As a train conductor, also called a guard, it's my voice that you'll hear over the tannoy announcing information like route changes or platform gaps at the next station. My job focuses on customer service, operating the doors, and safety, so I'm also there in case of emergencies. Sure, we also check and issue tickets when we get time between stations. But as a conductor, I have limited power if someone doesn't buy a ticket. I can ask nicely for their name to issue an 'unpaid fare notice', but I can't force them off. Only British Transport Police can do that. The real power lies with Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPI), who have the authority to issue penalty fares, or a formal caution (meaning the case goes to a magistrate). Sometimes we travel on the same train, and when that's the case, I can call them over to a carriage. Technically, I could stop the train at the next station if a person refused to cooperate, to await back-up, but that's highly discouraged. Most guards would admit they get a bit of a thrill from catching people without a ticket. You get a little commission – like 5pc – on each ticket you sell to a customer without one. If you issue a ticket costing £100 from King's Cross to Newcastle, for instance, you'd make £5. But early commuter trains can actually be the most lucrative because the number of travellers is highest. This one guy I knew told me he used to bag an extra £800 each month doing that. Personally, if it comes to someone's livelihood, I tend to turn a blind eye. There was an incident the other day when I saw an inspector charging a penalty to this poor lady who was crying. I would have said, 'Don't worry about it'. Becoming a conductor involves a series of tests, particularly because of all the safety aspects involved in the job. I think I did around 10 to qualify. There's something called the Group Bourdon test, which tests concentration. There's also a ticket-checking test, and a verbal and written communication test. The annoying thing is you'll have to redo the exams if you switch companies – they aren't transferable. Recruitment also isn't super transparent – you need to know someone to get into an opening, or there needs to be a real shortage. Pay varies wildly between companies. Some conductors make around £50,000 annually, whereas I'm paid £38,000. The discrepancies come down to historical industrial relations and union negotiations. I am in a union, and I strike whenever I can. I like the time off. However, when drivers go on strike, all other grades must still come into work. This means guards will get paid to do nothing, or have very tense shifts with double the number of passengers onboard. We're also less likely to get overtime shifts during industrial disputes with drivers, to cut costs. What's most confusing is that the train industry has a bewildering array of roles with often minimal differences between them. It's just a huge bureaucracy. For instance, conductors and train managers can do the same job on different routes, yet train managers earn about £5,000 more than me, as a conductor. Below that, there are onboard supervisors, who are similar but aren't what's called 'safety critical'. Otherwise, the transition upwards is relatively straightforward and doesn't require too much extra training. My day starts at the depot, about an hour before my shift. I pick up my 'diagram' – essentially a schedule card showing what route I've been assigned, where I'll be stopping and all that. You might be doing Paddington, Exeter, Bristol, Gloucester, and back to Paddington in a day. Then, once I've got to the platform and am onboard, I'll close the doors and buzz the driver to depart. The shifts vary considerably, but rarely go beyond 10 hours in practice. Also, you don't have to work on Sundays, but you do get a bonus if you do. What attracted me to this role, besides the money, is the independence. You're largely left to your own devices, so there's nobody micromanaging you, and we can go about our duties as we deem fit. One of the other real perks of the job is that occasionally we get 'stand-by' shifts, which means we're not assigned to any trains, but are based at the depot in case of emergencies or service alterations. Sometimes you can go a whole shift doing nothing but watching Netflix or catching up on sleep. It happens roughly every fortnight now, but when we first came out of Covid restrictions and weren't running a full service, I barely worked a train for a month and a half. What the public doesn't see is how the railway really operates behind the scenes. We'll have passengers coming up asking, 'Could you make the train go faster?' I just think, 'What do you think my job is?' The vast majority of passengers, in my experience, are surprisingly pleasant. We do have our notorious repeat fare-dodgers who are known to staff, and the occasional noisy or drunk passenger (especially during Cheltenham). Body cameras are also being increasingly mandated for conductors, supposedly to prevent attacks. I've yet to experience a physical altercation, but I do see passengers get angry, normally at fairly innocuous stuff like a train changing platform or a last-minute delay. At Paddington, our staff can be almost surrounded by irate passengers who are verbally abusive and physically threatening. Luckily, we have a consistent British Transport Police presence at most main railway stations. The biggest downside is the shift work, which plays havoc with your social life. It's one reason I don't see myself doing this for more than another year or two. The weird shift patterns make it difficult to maintain any kind of routine or community. That's also why I wouldn't want to be a train driver, despite the huge salary. They've made what I consider a fatal calculation that money is more valuable than time. When you're working these disruptive patterns, no amount of money compensates for what the shifts do to your well-being. As for the state of our railways, the infrastructure is better than in many European countries and certainly in America. The trains themselves are quite nice and new. It's just a shame they're running on such old tracks, and passengers are bearing too much of the cost to update them. There's no reason for an Edinburgh ticket to cost £200 – the price does not reflect the true value of the service. What is also frustrating is that the taxpayer still pays regardless, as the railways are publicly funded. About 95pc of the delays you hear about are infrastructure-related, due to decaying systems that desperately need investment. I feel embarrassed sometimes at the service level – last year, drivers were getting a pay rise, while we were running a terrible service on Sundays. I actually felt a little bit of shame at that point.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Heartbreak as student dies at school with cops probing ‘unexplained' tragedy
POLICE are investigating the unexplained tragic death of a student at a school. Emergency crews rushed to Hartpury College in Gloucester at around 11.25am on Friday, following the tragedy. While the student's death is currently being treated as unexplained, it is not believed to be suspicious. is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
