Female probation officer admits relationship with inmate at prime safety jail
Bethany Dent-Reynolds, 27, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office over an inappropriate relationship with inmate Kieran Robinson at Britain’s most secure jail
A probation officer has admitted to having an affair with a prisoner at a high-security jail. Bethany Dent-Reynolds, 27, engaged in the “inappropriate” liaison with convict Kieran Robinson whilst employed at HMP Belmarsh in Woolwich, southeast London.
HMP Belmarsh is a high-security (Category A) prison known for holding dangerous offenders, including terrorists and serious criminals. It features a separate High-Security Unit (HSU) for the most extreme risks, often compared to a “prison within a prison”.
The court was reportedly told Dent-Reynolds conducted herself improperly in a manner that constituted an abuse of public trust in her position as a probation officer.
The probation officer confessed to misconduct in a public office when she appeared before Woolwich Crown Court on Monday (December 15). The charge stated she maintained an “inappropriate relationship with a serving prisoner named Kieran Robinson between February 15, 2024 and May 3, 2024.”
The allegation also claimed Dent-Reynolds “caused software namely Ndelius Record, to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to data held in a computer”, the Mirror reported. Dent-Reynolds, of Forest Hill, southeast London, rejected a second misconduct charge alleging “an inappropriate, romantic relationship with Kieran Robinson” between 1 March 2024 and 20 April 2024.
That charge was abandoned. However, she entered a guilty plea to the original charge, concerning the romance with Mr Robinson, which spanned nearly three months.
Dent-Reynolds now faces imprisonment when she returns to Woolwich Crown Court on February 6 next year for sentencing.
The young woman was released on unconditional bail.
The defendant refuted a third charge alleging she manipulated a computer “to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a program or data held in a computer or to enable any such access to be so secured” under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
This charge was ordered to lie on file.
HMP Belmarsh, with a capacity of nearly 800, houses notorious inmates including Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana and Manchester bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.
The prison opened its doors near Woolwich in April 1991.
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