Teen jail officer who had intercourse with inmate caught out by video shared on Snapchat

Alicia Novas was jailed for three years after admitting sexual relationship with inmate Declan Winkless and smuggling cannabis and two mobile phones into HMP Five Wells

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A former prison officer who had sex with an inmate and smuggled cannabis and two mobile phones into jail for him is now behind bars herself.

Judge Rebecca Crane revealed that two videos of now 20-year-old Alicia Novas “having sexual intercourse in her prison uniform” were shared on Snapchat by prisoner Declan Winkless and “ended up in the press”.

Winkless, 31, received three years and four months imprisonment for his part in the crimes, to run consecutively with his existing sentence, whilst Novas was handed a three-year term.

During sentencing at Northampton Crown Court, the judge explained that Novas had worked as a prison officer at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough.

She stated that Novas, from Raunds, Northamptonshire, handed over her personal mobile number to Winkless, who is currently serving 11 years and three months for burglary conspiracies.

The court heard there were almost 3,000 communications between the duo during the indictment timeframe, with Winkless utilising four illegal devices.

Both defendants admitted guilt at a previous hearing to numerous charges, including Novas pleading to misconduct in a public office between August 1, 2024 and December 24, 2024, with Winkless confessing to “encouraging and assisting” Novas in this wrongdoing.

These crimes included Novas passing on details about a prison grass and whether Winkless was under suspicion by jail officials. The judge stated that the content of messages “demonstrates Winkless indicating he was romantically interested in Ms Novas, offering expensive gifts”.

She noted that “by November 16 the relationship became sexual including sexual intercourse”.

On November 23, 2024, the judge said, Winkless asked Novas “who the snitch was” and Novas provided the name of a prisoner and told Winkless what prison authorities knew or suspected about his involvement.

“This put the informant at very considerable risk to his personal safety,” the judge declared.

“It also undermined any prison investigation.”

She described Novas as “naive and immature”.

“Given your age and inexperience you were vulnerable to being manipulated,” the judge told her.

“However, you could easily have reported matters to the prison authorities and sought assistance.

“You persisted in having contact over a significant period even after your arrest.

“You failed to consider the seriousness of your actions and the potential impact on the security and the safety of staff and prisoners and how it undermined the work of the prison.”

She pointed out that “even an inexperienced and naive prison officer would know that prisoners who are suspected of being informants are often victims of very serious violence”.

“Therefore, providing the name of such a person to Winkless was extremely serious,” she concluded.

Liam Muir, representing Novas, pointed out that Novas was 18 at the time of the offences and suffered from an emotionally unstable personality disorder, which was undiagnosed at the time.

The judge acknowledged that Winkless showed remorse for his actions.

Both defendants were present via prison videolink from HMP Peterborough for their sentencing on Monday.

Novas had previously admitted to two counts of misconduct in a public office at an earlier hearing, with Winkless confessing to encouraging and assisting these offences.

Both defendants confessed to two counts of unauthorised transmission of image or sound by electronic communication from within a prison, covering periods before and after Novas was nicked – from 1 August to 24 December 2024, and from 23 December 2024 to 21 March 2025.

They both pleaded guilty to two counts of conveying an article into or out of a prison, relating to the cannabis and the two mobiles.

Winkless also confessed to unauthorised possession of a Motorola phone that was discovered in his cell during a search on 22 December 2024.

The judge quoted a statement from a prison manager, highlighting how such offences “damages public trust and undermines prison security”.