A “lovestruck” prison officer who had a “substantial sexual relationship” with a prisoner she worked for has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Charlotte Winstanley, 27, smuggled a range of contraband to HMP Lindholme near Doncaster for prisoner Jabhari Blair, 30, including a mobile phone used to send “explicit photos and videos”.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Winstanley, of Coronation Road, Doncaster, told Blair in a message: “I love my job but I love you more.”
Blair, a former organized gang member, was jailed for 12 and a half years in 2014.
He was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Monday after admitting possession of cannabis and prohibited mobile phones and USB flash drives.
Winstanley admitted misconduct in public office and retweeted a photo from inside the prison.
Sheffield Special Judge Jeremy Richardson KC described the case as the “worst” of its kind he had ever dealt with.
The court had previously heard messages discovered between Winstanley and Blair referred to Monday as a “date night”.
Prosecutor Aaron Dinnis told the court prison cameras captured “intimate moments” showing them touching together and disappearing into the room.
Dinnis said a message from Mr Blair indicated he “couldn’t wait to give Miss Winstanley a beautiful child”.
Richardson told the court that in October 2020, Winstanley became an operations support officer at HMP Lindholme and later became a prison officer and received anti-corruption training.
“While working at J-Wing, you began a corrupt relationship with Blair,” he said.
“You knew it was wrong and went against all your training.”
He said that despite “doubts” being raised against her, she “brazenly continued” [the] Corruption incident”.
The court heard she knew Mr Blair was serving a sentence for a serious crime and took a screenshot of a news article to show this.
The judge said Winstanley bought him a SIM card and smuggled it into prison.
“You expressed your love for each other and posted messages on WhatsApp and Snapchat,” Richardson said, adding that many of the messages were “explicit and unnecessary.”
One message from Winstanley read: “I’m literally praying to have your baby,” while another read: “Baby, life starts now. Every sacrifice I make is to be with you.”
“It is clear that you all knew that what you were doing was illegal and corrupt,” Richardson said.
He added that Winstanley provided Blair with sensitive information about the inmate’s movements, medical care information about other inmates and intelligence about a planned search in his cell.
The court heard Blair told Winstanley he had used connections within prison to ensure she was protected and said there were people ready to “fight immediately if necessary”.
The judge said Winstanley also had a close relationship with Blair’s mother and that she was “clearly aware of the nature of that relationship”.
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