Female jail officer, 44, who wrote sexually specific poetry for inmate throughout illicit relationship is jailed

A prison officer who wrote sexually explicit poetry for a sex offender inmate has been jailed for six months. 

Livvy Edney, 44, started a relationship with prisoner Paul Young while working at HMP Channings Wood in Devon. 

Edney was employed by the prison in 2020 and became romantically involved with Young in November 2022 after becoming his supervisor. 

The prison grew suspicious of the couple and Young, who was serving a sentence for imprisonment for public protection after being convicted of assault by penetration, was transferred to another prison in January 2023. 

Despite this, the couple’s relationship continued. Edney used two pay as you go phones, registered a false name and gave an address of a relative of Young to the prison authorities to keep in touch with him after he was moved.     

Exeter Crown Court heard that phone calls where they declared their love for each other were recorded by the prison authorities. 

During the calls, Young also read out poetry he had written for Edney and they planned a trip to Venice after he was released. 

When Young’s cell was searched, a card with an image of two penguins and a ‘sexually explicit’ message was found. It read: ‘Happy Valentine’s my love, the first of many. 

‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I’ll make you scream when I put my strap-on inside you. Love from your Valentine.’

Edney, who is a mother-of-three, was arrested at her home in March 2023. During police interviews, she denied having any relationship with Young or knowledge of the two mobile phones found at their address. 

Letters and notes were also found in Young’s cell, alongside the Valentine’s Day card. 

Young had previously been romantically involved with a separate officer. 

Edney, of Grenville Avenue, Torquay, previously pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office. 

Judge James Patrick, when sentencing Edney for six months, said she was fully aware of the ‘importance of maintaining boundaries in relation to prisoners’.

He added: ‘Paul Young is somebody who had a relationship with another officer in the past and that was something which intrigued you. 

‘From that period, you and he developed a relationship which became closer and closer.’ 

Judge Patrick said Young’s transfer ‘should have served as a warning’ to Edney – and said she used ‘subterfuge’ to continue their relationship. 

He continued: ‘You did so by pretending to be somebody else, you did so using disguised telephone numbers. 

‘You declared in those calls your love for one another, you read out poems, you discussed dating, you discussed meeting, there were multiple references to sexual behaviour.’

The judge recognised Edney ‘brought the contact to an end’, however added: ‘You brought the contact to an end knowing firstly that he had been transferred and secondly, being very suspcious as to what the authorities knew about you.’

Lee Brembridge, defending, urged the court to impose a suspended prison sentence on the basis Edney had since remarried, had a full-time job and was unlikely to reoffend. 

Mr Bembridge said despite Edney not being ‘the youngest prison officer’, she had a ‘degree of inexperience’ to the work and had her ‘own vulnerabilities’. 

He added: ‘Her vulnerabilities are very personal to her, which started in her childhood, and indeed continued in a 20-year relationship with her ex-husband.

‘Mrs Edney has spent a lifetime living with anxiety, with depression, and everything which comes with a traumatic childhood, which then follows its way into an abusive marriage over the course of 20 years.

‘Her life, indeed both her family life and her personal life, are now more stable than they have ever been.’

In spite of this, Judge Patrick concluded: ‘I accept that there’s no evidence that there was any physical relationship.

‘But plainly, your relationship was highly sexual, even if it was not physical.

‘In my judgment, and with great regret, I conclude that I must send you immediately to custody.’

Detective Sergeant Will Martel, of the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: ‘Edney went to significant lengths to conceal the relationship, knowing that it was a serious breach of her position.

‘Corruption will not be tolerated within our prisons.

‘Working closely with the Prison Service, staff across the prison estate and wider policing partners, we will continue to root out misconduct of this nature.’