A prison officer and an inmate who engaged in a sexual relationship have admitted to misconduct charges. Alicia Novas, 19, and 30 year old Declan Winkless pleaded guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court.
It comes after Novas gave her phone number to the prisoner and failed to report his possession of a mobile and cannabis. Novas, who stood in the dock dressed in a black outfit and glasses, and Winkless, who appeared via videolink from HMP Swaleside in Kent, both admitted misconduct in public office between August and December 2024 at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire.
They also both entered guilty pleas to a separate charge of misconduct on November 23 last year.
The court was told that Novas, serving as a prison custody officer, “wilfully misconducted” herself “in a way which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust”.
(Image: PA)
Winkless is alleged to have encouraged and assisted both offences.
Both defendants admitted making an unauthorised transmission of an image or sound from within a prison, smuggling cannabis into HMP Five Wells, and bringing two mobile phones into the category C prison, near Wellingborough.
They also entered guilty pleas to making an unauthorised electronic transmission of an image relating to HMP Peterborough between December 2024 and March this year.
Winkless, formerly of South Wigston, Leicestershire, confessed to a seventh charge of possessing a device with a sim card at HMP Five Wells without authority on December 22 last year.
During the brief hearing on Monday, the prosecutor did not present the case against the defendants.
Novas and Winkless, with the latter dressed in a grey T-shirt, only spoke to confirm their identities and enter their pleas.
The 19 year old from Raunds, Northamptonshire, who had previously been on conditional bail, was taken into custody after pleading guilty, causing a woman in the public gallery to weep into a tissue.
The defendants were informed that their sentencing would take place on January 5.
The pleas come after married warder Linda de Sousa Abreu, 30, admitted misconduct in a public office after footage of her romping with burglar Linton Wieirich at HMP Wandsworth emerged last summer.
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