02-06-2025
Female guard texted prisoner's mother 900 times
A female guard texted a prisoner's mother 900 times, a court has heard.
Megann Gibson, 26, sexted the prisoner while working at Wealstun Prison, near Wetherby, West Yorkshire.
The guard then sent the criminal's mother more than 900 messages, reportedly in a bid to stay in contact with him.
She also allowed the unnamed inmate into restricted areas of the Category C resettlement prison and visited his home address, a court heard.
Gibson, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, was this week warned she faces jail over the forbidden romance, while joining a growing list of shamed female prison guards convicted over behind-bars liaisons.
The guard, who admitted misconduct in a public office and possession of cannabis, will be sentenced in August.
Gibson, who lives with her sister and driving instructor mother in the suburb of Gipton, was warned by a judge at the city's crown court: 'You may well be serving a prison sentence.'
The plea hearing was told Gibson was undergoing assessment for mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress linked to a previous relationship. She was released on unconditional bail, but warned that her offence was a 'serious matter'.
At least 29 female prison guards have been dismissed in the past three years over improper relationships with prisoners. That compares to just nine women who lost their jobs for the same offence between 2017 and 2019.
Katie Evans, 26, embarked on an illicit romance with inmate Daniel Brownley while working at HMP Doncaster, calling herself his 'queen'. The mother-of-one, who was jailed for 21 months in March, boasted about sex acts on the criminal and collecting drug money on his behalf.
Her criminal behaviour was exposed during an anti-corruption investigation into another guard at the category B jail.
Morgan Farr Varney, 24, was this month locked up for 10 months after she was caught in a cupboard with a prisoner while working at HMP Lindholme in South Yorkshire.
She became besotted with crack cocaine dealer Jordan Stones, 30, who pinned racy snaps of his prison officer lover to his cell walls.
Cherrie-Ann Saddington, 29, smuggled a Calpol syringe into jail to artificially inseminate herself with a prisoner's sperm.
The officer became obsessed with convicted sex offender Bradley Trengrove after he was moved to HMP The Verne in Dorset. The female prison warden told Trengrove she was pregnant in November 2022, although she miscarried after eight weeks.
She was spared jail by a judge in May after being left in a wheelchair from a spinal stroke.
In January, Linda De Sousa Abreu, a 31-year-old former Wandsworth Prison officer, was jailed for 15 months after a film of her having sex with an inmate was shared online.
