A married prison officer jailed for having sex with an inmate in his cell was planning to continue their relationship after his release – because he made her feel ‘like a gangster’.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, who was filmed on a mobile phone romping with convicted burglar Linton Weirich at HMP Wandsworth in South London, saw the convict as her ‘protector’ and rewarded him with ‘sexual services’.
De Sousa Abreu – who lived with her partner and their seven-year-old daughter – admitted misconduct in a public office and was jailed on Monday for 15 months.
Fresh details of the case began to emerge yesterday morning after the sentencing remarks of judge Martin Edmunds KC were released in full.
Venezuelan-born De Sousa Abreu was seen by Dr Iain Kooyman, a consultant forensic psychiatrist who prepared a report for sentencing – and it disclosed new details of her mindset.
Dr Kooyman revealed that the 31-year-old told him that she ‘loved’ Weirich, who himself had a heavily pregnant girlfriend at the time.
The psychiatrist, who found she suffered from severe borderline personality disorder and ADHD, said she told him she had never felt as safe as when she was with Weirich.
And she planned for their liaison to continue on the outside after his release.
De Sousa Abreu (pictured), who was jailed for having sex with convicted burglar Linton Weirich planned to continue their relationship after his release – because he made her feel ‘like a gangster’
Linda De Sousa Abreu (pictured in a mug shot), who was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having severe borderline personality disorder and ADHD, also told him she had never felt as safe as when she was with Weirich
The X-rated clip shows De Sousa Abreu dressed in full uniform and performing a sex act on Weirich, who has a pregnant girlfriend, at the Category A jail
Weirich is serving a four-and-a-half year sentence for swiping £65,000 worth of valuables from a safe in a flat in Kensington.
Referring to the psychiatric report – as well as a letter written to him personally by the defendant – Judge Edmunds KC told De Sousa Abreu: ‘Dr Kooyman assessed you as intelligent and insightful.
‘You can have had no doubt at all that any form of sexual relationship was completely forbidden and must have understood the harm that can flow from such a relationship.
‘To Dr Kooyman you acknowledged that you knew your actions were unprofessional but said you did not understand that you could face prosecution.
‘To ensure there was the opportunity to offend it would have been essential for you to be alone with the prisoners.
‘This was the second sexual encounter with the prisoner on that day. To that extent, the offence was premeditated.
‘Why did you breach that clear line? There could be no doubt about the challenging working environment and I acknowledge that the Prison Inspectorate reported on a lack of support for inexperienced staff, but you now resile from any suggestion that you offended because of pressure.
‘What you said to the author, and repeated as recently as in your letter to me, was that you came to view the prisoner as your protector, a person who made you feel safe, and in that context you provided sexual services.
Weirich, the inmate in the video, was jailed for four and a half years at Kingston Crown Court last June for burglary after he stole £65,000 worth of valuables from a safe in a flat in Kensington
Venezuelan-born De Sousa Abreu was seen by Dr Iain Kooyman, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, who revealed the 31-year-old told him that she ‘loved’ Weirich, who himself had a heavily pregnant girlfriend at the time
De Sousa Abreu came under fire in September last year after she was spotted mocking her ankle bracelet at a London party (pictured)
‘But that is conceding to the very manipulation that your public office required you to resist.
‘A clearer assessment comes in my view, from Dr Kooyman who observed that, although you felt unsupported, you enjoyed the sense of power that came with your position, the prisoners doing as you asked, saying you became grandiose and delusional, your mood high and that you loved working there.
‘You told him that you developed a close attachment to the prisoner to the extent of wanting the relationship to continue after he was released, you say that you loved him, that you never felt so safe in your life and you ‘felt like a gangster’.
‘You said that you did not believe that consequences existed for you and did not think that you would be caught. Looking back, you now say that he groomed you.’
It was the second time she had had sex with him and followed a secret tryst earlier that same day when she had performed oral sex on him.
The X-rated clip – filmed by another prisoner – was leaked online and widely shared on social media.
Mr Edmunds KC said Dr Kooyman had diagnosed De Sousa Abreu with a severe borderline personality disorder which, combined with ADHD, made her ‘highly impulsive’ and reckless and made her act ‘without considering the consequences’ but he concluded that she was responsible for her actions.
He added that since the explicit recording had gone viral, female prison officers at HMP Wandsworth had been subject to abuse and harassment by inmates who now see them as ‘fair game‘.
Mr Edmunds KC told Isleworth Crown Court: ‘The consequence of the recording going viral, a result that you did not intend but which was certainly a consequence of your offence, has been that prison officers have faced heckling and harassment.
‘They have been confronted with sexualised images falsely suggesting that your conduct is typical.
‘Children of your fellow female prison officers have been teased as to what their mothers may do at work.
‘It is inevitable that the damage for which you were responsible at Wandsworth has spread, to some degree, through the prison estate.
‘It will impact on the reputation of the prison service and, with that, the prospects of recruiting and retaining staff.
‘It causes anxiety among those close to vulnerable prisoners who worry more about the environment in which prisoners are held.
‘That recording is still out there and will doubtless circulate indefinitely.’
De Sousa Abreu was filmed performing a sex act on Weirich before engaging in full intercourse with him on June 25, 2024.
De Sousa Abreu was a prison officer at HMP Wandsworth (pictured) when the explicit footage was recorded and later circulated on social media
Dressed in full prison uniform, she first discarded her radio – which crackled throughout the four-and-a-half minute clip with inaudible messages from colleagues – before being recorded by a cannabis-smoking friend of Weirich.
When she realised that the clip had gone public, De Sousa Abreu tried to flee to Spain and travelled with her father to Heathrow Airport.
She called a HMP Wandsworth night officer and said: ‘I am not coming back to work, I am never returning to Wandsworth. I am at the airport. I have a family emergency.’
She said her husband would return her things, but was stopped by police at a departure gate at Heathrow’s Terminal Five before she could board a flight to Madrid.