Female jail shrink admits secret sexual relationship with machete killer behind bars
Prison psychologist Dr Amber-Renee Gayle, 32, has admitted misconduct in public office after confessing to a secret six-month sexual relationship with lifer Rickarlo Williams
HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire(Image: Lichfield Mercury)
A female prison psychologist has admitted having a secret sexual relationship with a convicted machete killer behind bars.
Dr Amber-Renee Gayle, 32, appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday (August 4) and pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office after being accused of having a relationship with lifer Rickarlo Williams, 24, while working at HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire.
Gayle, wearing a white top and black jacket, admitted she had had sexual relations with the inmate between May 1, 2024 and November 30, 2024. Asked for her plea, she replied: “Guilty.”
The court heard she was working as “a public officer, namely a forensic psychologist”, and that she “deliberately misconducted yourself by forming and conducting a sexual relationship with a prisoner, Rickarlo Williams, which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder.”
Rickarlo Williams, 24(Image: Met Police)
Williams is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 25.5 years for his role in a frenzied revenge attack in Harrow in December 2021, when 16-year-old Hussein Al-Saabri was murdered with a machete and two other teenagers were left critically injured.
HMP Swinfen Hall is a Category C prison and Young Offender Institution housing men aged 18 to 25.
The illicit relationship is said to have unfolded over around six months, with encounters reportedly taking place during designated therapy sessions, the Sun reported.
Gayle also admitted computer misuse by using the prison system to obtain information about lags and another charge of conspiring with others to bring a mobile phone and Sim cards into jail. She pleaded not guilty to a further charge of conveying cannabis into the jail.
Williams, appearing via live video link from HMP Swinfen Hall, entered a plea over the contraband plot, admitting conspiracy to smuggle mobile phones and SIM cards into the jail, the Daily Mail reported. Asked for his plea, he replied: “Guilty.” He denied the charge of smuggling cannabis into the prison.
Dr Amber-Renee Gayle, 32, appeared at Stafford Crown Court and pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office(Image: Lichfield Mercury)
Misconduct in public office is a common-law offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, though typical prison terms for serious breaches of trust in custody settings are often measured in years, according to Farleys Solicitors.
The judge will consider factors including the duration of the relationship, the prisoner’s high-risk status, and any security implications around phones.
Gayle has been suspended from practice on an interim order by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service.
It comes after a married prison officer accused of having sex with an inmate allegedly sent a string of filthy messages about vibrating underwear and craving his “big man hands”, the Daily Star previously reported.
Jordan Pensak, 27, faces criminal charges after federal investigators in the US say they uncovered a trove of explicit texts, pictures and videos detailing her illicit behind-bars affair.
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