Female jail tutor accused of forming ‘intimate’ relationship with lag
Kelly Duffey is alleged to have struck up an inappropriate relationship with the inmate before hiding the ‘affair’ from the public for four months as the prisoner was moved
Kelly Duffe outside Salisbury Law Courts(Image: Andrew Croft/Solent News)
A female prison officer has been hauled into court charged with having an “intimate relationship” with an inmate. The alleged relationship is believed to have lasted four months.
Kelly Duffey, 36, was charged with having the affair with prisoner Ashley Goodridge whilst she worked as a prison tutor at HMP Erlestoke in Wiltshire. Being in an all-male jail, the pair allegedly hid their relationship for months through a slew of different methods.
Since then, she has appeared in court on the charges made against her. Meanwhile, the lag that she “fell in love with” has been moved to another jail to prevent further contact.
According to the Daily Mail, Goodridge was locked up at HMP Erlestoke when the pair first met. She was brought in as a tutor under a rehabilitation scheme. However, as the pair began to get closer, their alleged relationship crossed a line and they soon reportedly began to communicate in secret.
Court documents show that the alleged relationship between the lag and the tutor took place over four months. Their “affair” is believed to have begun on May 20, 2024 before the pair were “caught” on September 5 of the same year.
Duffey and Goodridge appeared at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on Friday (January 9) for the first time. Duffey is currently charged with two counts of “entering and engaging in an intimate relationship with a prisoner”, as well as “failing to notify the Prison Authorities of your knowledge of an inappropriate relationship between a member of prison staff and a prisoner”.
Goodridge was also charged with using a phone to contact his alleged lover whilst he was in the Category C prison.
Prosecutors are calling for both Ashley and Kelly’s cases to be heard together so that they can be tried for their crimes at the same time. Leading the prosecution, Roxanne Cole said that Goodridge had acquired a phone in order to speak with Duffey in secret.
“Miss Duffey was employed as a tutor at one of the prisons where the defendant was serving — Mr Goodridge — she formed an intimate relationship with him; the phone he possessed was used to send messages to her with regard to that relationship,” Cole said. “The crown says it is inextricably linked, intimately related, so the matters should go to the crown court for a hearing.”
Goodridge appeared in court via videolink after he was moved to HMP Coldingley in Surrey. Presiding over the case, chief magistrate Paul Robinson told Duffey that she needs to avoid any other chances of offending.
Both have been granted unconditional bail following the first hearing, though this only technical from Goodridge’s side, as he is already in prison. The case was pushed forward in the court system and both parties will be called to Salisbury Crown Court on February 6 for a second hearing.
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