A female prison officer has pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office after allegations of an illicit relationship with a male inmate.
Sarah Barnett, 31, from Rugeley in Staffordshire and who worked at HMP Dovegate in nearby Uttoxeter, faces a possible jail term when sentenced on January 7.
Barnett has since left the Prison Service to start working as a beauty therapist.
She was charged with being a holder of public office who wilfully neglected to perform duty/wilfully misconducted herself, after being alleged to have had an illicit relationship with a male inmate.
She has now entered a guilty plea during a brief five-minute hearing at Derby Crown Court. No details of the offence were given at this stage.
She was released on conditional bail to return to the same court to learn her fate in two months’ time.
Barnett had been working at HMP Dovegate, a Category B male jail in Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, when the offence came to light.
Her mother previously told the Daily Mail her daughter would deny the charge, saying she hoped the Crown Prosecution Service would quash it.
Former prison officer Sarah Barnett, 31 (pictured) has pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office after allegations of an illicit relationship with a male inmate
Barnett (pictured, second from left) pleaded guilty to a charge of being a holder of a public office who wilfully neglected to perform a duty/wilfully misconducted herself
She added: ‘We don’t really know what it is all about.’
Since leaving the service Barnett has become a self-employed beauty therapist and has been promoting herself as a cosmetic brow and lash specialist, setting up a firm called Beauty By Sarah.
She offered aesthetic brow and lash services and has received positive reviews for her services.
The HD Brows trained specialist posted on her Facebook page in August last year: ‘So happy my new career is going well. Thank you for all your support.’
Barnett is the latest in a string of prisoner officer workers to have been charged over illegal contact and liaison with inmates in recent months.
Last month prison guard Heather Pinchbeck pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to making a series of illicit phone calls which are understood to be to a violent inmate.
Barnett (pictured, right) has now admitted to an illicit relationship with a male inmate
The former prison officer previously declined to comment when approached but her mother had indicated that she would deny the charges. (Sarah Barnett is pictured left)
Pinchbeck, 28, who has since left the service, was charged with one count of making illegal mobile communication with a prisoner who she met while on duty.
Pinchbeck, who is from Drakelow, near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire and is now a business management executive, is due to be sentenced in January next year.
In September prison cashier Yolanda Briggs was jailed for having a sexual relationship with an inmate who had bragged about their illicit fling and was reported to authorities by a fellow convict.
Briggs, 52, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and was given an eight-month sentence at Lincoln Crown Court.