A 26-year-old female prison officer who fell in love with an inmate and performed a sexual act on him in his cell on Christmas Day has been jailed for a year.
Emily Watson was reported to have spent so much time with John McGee at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham, Wales – the United Kingdom, that staff soon became suspicious and launched an investigation.
The probe revealed they had been alone together in his cell on three occasions when she performed a sex act on him twice and had intercourse once.
She had also sent explicit images and videos of herself to him on an iPhone 6 that had been smuggled into the prison hidden inside a PlayStation.
DailyMail UK reports that McGee, who was jailed for causing death by dangerous driving, registered her phone number under a different name and the pair talked regularly when she was off shift – with 96 calls logged.
Watson, of Linthwaite, Huddersfield, sobbed loudly as she was sentenced at Mold Crown Court.
She previously admitted misconduct in public office by engaging in an intimate sexual relationship with a prisoner.
The court heard that their sexual relationship started in October 2017, after they got to know each other doing a BBC Children In Need three-legged race, and ended in January 2018.
McGee was serving an eight-year sentence for causing the death of a 52-year-old man by dangerous driving in December 2015.
He ploughed into the man while driving with his lights off. He fled the scene and left his victim for dead and the police to chase him. He was already on licence for supplying Class A drugs.
Watson’s case at Mold Crown Court heard she had been a prison officer for three years when she fell for McGee.
An illegal phone was found in his cell that revealed the pair had contact via Instagram as well as his prison phone.
He sent her messages saying he was dreaming of her and she sent him a naked picture and a sexual video of herself.
She was arrested on the way to work in January 2018.
The judge said:
“One can only hope the sentence of eight years imprisonment would have been some comfort to the family of Mr Bratin.
‘Therefore it is difficult to imagine the betrayal they must have felt at finding out that he was able to have free access to an iPhone in prison and conduct a sexual relationship from his prison cell.”
He accepted Watson was of otherwise good character with no previous convictions.
Her family had written a letter saying how proud they were of her achievements.
She had worked two jobs and was university educated.
Her lawyer Gerald Patcher said she was truly remorseful and asked for a suspended sentence – but the judge said he couldn’t agree.
The judge added:
‘This quite reprehensible behaviour’ was willingly entered into for nothing other than thrill-seeking and personal gratification, having been flattered.”
The delay in bringing Watson to court came after she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for trying to throw herself off a bridge.
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