How was this lady allowed to work with susceptible youngsters? Health care assistant who had relationship with inmate whereas working at Broadmoor received job serving to particular wants pupils

She was placed in a position of trust, working with some of the nation’s most vulnerable children with special educational needs.

Yet all the while, Laura Horton, who was appointed a director of Berkshire-based Remedicare Education, was under investigation for smuggling drugs into high-security prisons across the country.

Her criminal dealings were laid bare after a probe was launched into Horton during her departure from the notorious Broadmoor Hospital, where she formed an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with an inmate while working as a health care assistant.

Horton’s home was searched and she was arrested in April 2022, with an ongoing investigation into her wrongdoings.

Despite this, she was made a director at Remedicare in June 2023. 

With allegations as damning as hers, the question remains of how the 40-year-old, pictured looking teary-eyed in her mugshot, was able to secure a job at an educational facility where she would have been in contact with vulnerable children.

While the company maintain they carried out thorough checks when hiring Horton, she continued to work at the company despite being charged with drug smuggling in October 2024 and pleading guilty in May.

During her time at the company, Horton would have potentially overseen the rollout of art therapy and one-on-one tuition to special needs children.

The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, who investigated her offences, found Horton had posted forged legal letters laced with class B spice to prisons at least 20 times between 2018 and 2022 and she was jailed in August.

Horton’s drug smuggling offences were allegedly linked to her ‘inappropriate’ relationship with an inmate while working at Broadmoor, the highest security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire.

The hospital is known to house some of the most dangerous criminals in the country.

Horton, from leafy Aldershot in Surrey, formed links with offenders across the country and police found she had laundered around £28,000 to her bank account, using multiple aliases.

When a probe was launched into her dealings with an inmate, she left her role at the hospital, after which she was arrested, and months later began her role at Remedicare.

Remedicare, nestled in the quiet market town of Wokingham, charges nearly £70,000-a-year per pupil and pledges to help children ‘reach their full potential’ through services including therapy and one-on-one tutoring.

It offers ‘alternative provision’ for children with special educational needs (SEN) who cannot attend mainstream schools.

And so serious concerns were raised when the ‘unregistered’ education provider was found to have been employing a criminal.

Horton was only sacked from the company in June this year, and in August was sentenced to two years and two months at Reading Crown Court after admitting conveying a List A article into prison, concealing criminal property and being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug.

Remedicare claims to have followed safe recruitment checks when hiring Horton, including enhanced DBS checks, reference checks and ‘confirmation she was not on any barred lists’.

Yet Horton remained at Remedicare for two years, long after first being charged with the offences.

Remedicare claimed background checks were ‘repeated’ during Horton’s employment and ‘continued to return clear results’. 

She reportedly stayed heavily involved in the provider until she was jailed, though the company say she ‘never had responsibility for running the business’ and was ‘moved into a non-student facing position’ after they were made aware of the charges.

During her case, prosecutors said one of the drug-filled letters was intercepted at HMP Swaleside in Kent in December 2021 and another at HMP Isle of Wight in January 2022.

The plot, investigators said, was nationwide.

The education worker was brought down by police officers of the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

Its head, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Boniface, said supplying drugs like spice into prisons ‘has a devastating impact’.

He said: ‘It is responsible for prisoners’ ill health, serious violence and on occasion has led to deaths.

‘Laura Horton would have been aware of this impact having worked within Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital where security measures are similar to mainstream prisons.’

Spice, which is typically smoked, is a synthetic cannabis that can leave users feeling relaxed and euphoric – but can also trigger bouts of psychosis.

Remedicare charges £365 a day per child, which racks up to almost £70,000 for a 190-day school year.

According to the Reading Chronicle, Reading Borough Council spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money sending vulnerable children to the education facility.

The council initially said the company never alerted them that a member of staff was under criminal investigation, but have since retracted this statement.

The company is an unregistered ‘alternative provision’, meaning it is not regulated by Ofsted.

A spokesman said it regrets hiring Horton and downplayed her role, despite her name being listed as director on Companies House.

It is understood steps are being taken to remove Horton as a shareholder.

It comes after a primary school teacher who tried to smuggle letters laced with drugs into prison was banned from the classroom in March.

Vivienne Williams, 30, was teaching at Elsley Primary School in Wembley, north west London, when she tried to send parcels laced with spice worth an estimated £17,000 to prisons in Wandsworth, Nottingham and Cardiff.

She was jailed for two and a half years in October 2023 – but this year banned from teaching for life following a probe by the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA).

A spokesman for Remedicare Education told the Daily Mail: ‘We would like to be clear that the offences involving Laura Horton took place before her employment with Remedicare Education, and none of the offences are connected to our services, our team, or the young people we support.

‘Ms Horton’s position was a strategic, business-support role. She never had responsibility for running the business as has been alleged, although she was a director for a short period of time.

‘She was not employed to deliver therapy, provide direct care, lead training on safeguarding or manage day-to-day educational provision.

‘Our centres are led by qualified and experienced staff, including teachers and SEN specialists. 

‘At the point of hiring Ms Horton, all safer-recruitment procedures were followed.

‘As soon as concerns were raised around her forthcoming charges, we sought ongoing guidance from the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and followed that guidance based on the information legally available to us at every stage.

‘When we were made aware in late 2024 that Ms Horton was being charged, she was moved into a non-student-facing position, then suspended, and subsequently dismissed as new stages of information became clear.

‘She had no contact with students after her role was changed at the start of 2025. LADO has since closed the matter and confirmed they were satisfied with our actions.

‘We followed every step that we could and should have taken legally as her case and the facts of it came to light stage by stage.

‘We are currently in the process of working though share transfer legislation to fully remove Ms Horton as a shareholder.’

Lara Patel, Executive Director of Children’s Services at Reading Borough Council, said: ‘The Council fully acknowledges the concerns being raised, both in relation to the commissioning of the placement provided at Remedicare, and the circumstances relating to the employment by this provider of a person who was subsequently the subject of a criminal investigation.

‘Immediate assurance regarding current safe employment practices has been provided by Remedicare and further monitoring and investigation is in place.

“The Council cannot comment further pending the conclusion of the investigation but is retracting and apologising for its initial inaccurate statement that the provider did not notify Reading of a criminal investigation being in progress at the time the placement was made. 

‘This was not the case and the reasons for this information not being immediately available are part of the review and complaint investigation.

‘Separately, an internal review of how placements are commissioned has highlighted the need to further strengthen the process, which the Council is fully committed to.

‘The Council is committed to the safeguarding of children at all times.’